Branches
by Earthling
Summary: Someone has been using the 2nd Stargate! Cassi and Teal'c are sent to work with a CIA agent named Sydney Bristo, meanwhile, the twins develop some unusual powers and Cassi is the only one who can help! *Finished!*
1. Default Chapter

Branches  
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.   
  
To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?   
  
AN: Hope you enjoyed the last story, "New Arrivals" This is kind of a cross over with the ABC tv show "Alias" Remember that no " marks means telepathic speech. Also, can anyone tell me what Teal'c's wife's name is? Let me know if the format is too wierd! Hope you enjoy, and make sure to let me know!   
Previous stories for background reference: "The Alternate Daughter", "Cassi, Cassie", "2-D", "What If's, Maybe So's and Could've Been's" and "New Arrivals"  
  
  
Brrriiinnnggg!  
Brrriii.......  
"Hello?"  
"Daniel, is Cass there?"  
"Yeah. Cass...the phone's for you!"  
The cordless phone floated across the apartment to land in the girl's outheld hand.  
" 'Lo?" she said, flipping the page of one of her Uncle's oldest journals.  
"Put it down, Cass" her friend ordered her over the phone.  
"What?" Cass looked up from the book, not sure she'd heard Cassie's entire sentence.  
"I said put it down. I know you're reading one of Daniel's journals, you always try to read and talk at the same time"  
"All right, all right! I put it down!" Cass laughed and shut the book, "What's up?"  
"Do you and Greg wanna go to a concert or something this weekend? It's my last weekend of freedom, Mom made me get a summer job"  
"Did you get hired at Wal-mart?" Cass asked her friend, pouring a glass of lemonade for herself from her spot on the couch. Daniel turned around and almost knocked it out of the air.  
"Jeeze!"  
"Yeah, I start Monday"  
Sorry Uncle Danny! "That's sucks, but hey at least you'll be getting some money" Cass said outloud into the phone.  
"I guess" her friend admitted, "So, do you and Greg wanna go or not?"  
"I'm sorry Fray! I'm going to visit R'yac with Tik and Greg's off world this weekend" Cass could feel her friend's disappointment even over the phone.  
"You're so lucky, Cass! You go off world every week while I'm stuck here on boring Earth! And you get paid for it!" Cassie complained. They had become great friends when Cass had died and joined Cassie in her body. And it was true that Cass was often off world, especially it seemed when Cassie wanted or needed to do something.  
"I don't get the money since I have no real identity. Dad get's it. Maybe you can come with me and Tik" Cass suggested, "I'm sure I could talk Hammond into it."  
"Yeah, maybe. I've gotta go, Mom wants to call your mom"   
"Bye" Daniel looked up from his work in the kitchen.  
"Why don't you just move in?" he asked playfully, taking his glasses off.  
"It would free a room up for either Amanda or Richard" Cass laughed back. She put her book away and pecked her Uncle on the cheek cheerfully.  
"I'm going home now!"  
"Which one?" Cass just laughed and made herself disappear. She reapeared in the hall because she did have range problems, especially porting herself. She couldn't port any other human anywhere, the process would be too complex, or so she believed. Her father had pulled some strings and finally gotten her a "fake" identity, with hospital and school records and everything. So she had gotten herself a driver's license and keys to her mother's car.   
See ya tomorrow Uncle Danny! she called as she drove away. When she got home, Amanda was crying and it sounded like Ricky (as they sometimes called Richard) was laughing. They were often like that: If Richard was sleeping, Amanda was up. If Amanda was sleeping, Richard was up. The only ti really worked was feeding time, as Sam couldn't hold two infants at once. She was back on active duty, which had at first proven to be somewhat difficult, especially when they went on overnighter's. General Hammond had offered to move her to another team, but Sam had refused. Instead, Janet and Cassie took the twins while the rest of their family got themselves in and out of dangerous mission after dangerous mission. Sometimes Greg, with the aid of Lor and Batai, would take them. Everyone seemed satisfied with the arrangment and a regular (ex-Air Force) babysitter was found for during the days.  
"Oh, Manny, what's wrong?" Cass carefully picked her baby sister out of her play pen.  
"She's been crying for an hour" Jack said, coming out of the kitchen with a bottle and handing it to his (oldest) daughter.   
"She's cold" Cass told him and "lifted" an extra blanket from the play pen to wrap around her sister. She rocked her a bit and blew softly in her face. The infant stopped crying.   
"For cryin' out loud!" her Dad muttered.   
She was! Cass laughed in his head. Her sister was asleep already and she placed her softly back in her play pen. Beside her, Richard gurgled happily, sucking on his toes.  
"Where's Mom?" Cass asked quietly, following her dad to the den where they could talk without waking the fussy child. She didn't have to ask, but she found using her abilities for small things made life boring.   
"Sleeping, thank god" her father answered, "What were you doin?"  
"Over at Uncle Danny's buggin him" Cass laughed, "No, I was rereading R'yac's rescue. I'm going with Tik tomorrow for the big game"  
"Is that this weekend?" Jack slapped his forehead. He had introduced R'yac to baseball and R'yac had started an entire league on the planet he and his mother took refuge on. Teal'c visited when he could, but that was still nowhere near enough for him. Still, it was better than them being on Chulak. However, a big "final" game was this saturday and Teal'c had promised his son he would be there.  
"Yeah. You think Mom'll want to go?" Cass asked.  
"I don't know. We'd have to take the kids" her father answered.  
"That'd be okay. Fraise says it doesn't hurt them physically and I can't see any mental affects. Plus, you know the People of the Light or whatever have been wanting to meet them" Jack sighed. His youngest two had gone through the gate mere hours after they were born, about 5 months ago now. Other than their slightly speedy development rate, there appeared not to be any harm to their young selves. Yet.  
"Well, we'll have to wait and see how your mom feels" he answered and left it at that. 


	2. A Weekend Visit

Branches  
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.   
  
To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?   
AN: Thanks for the help on the names!  
  
"That was a good game, R'yac!" Cassi told the boy. He was nearly as tall as his father and although in her own universe he was many years her senior, he was only a year or two older here. Teal'c had been teaching him the ways of the Jaffa and he was almost ready to be taken to a training camp, but Teal'c didn't know where to take him. Even if there were a safe place for him to train at, what would he do afterward, who would he serve? The Tok'ra were a viable choice, but Teal'c wasn't sure they'd take him.  
"I agree my son" Teal'c added.  
"Thank you Father, Cassandra. The Team of the Blue is victorious yet again!"   
"Not so next time, R'yac!" one of the boys from the other team, Orange, laughed. There were no serious consequences for these games, so everyone, winners and losers, was in good humor.   
"I'm sorry my parents couldn't come R'yac" Cass told her friend as they started for the main village where lunch awaited them.   
"That's all right, Cassandra" R'yac answered, "I'm sure important matters kept them away"   
"Indeed" Teal'c confirmed. He was kept up at nights with the kid's crying too. Cassi smiled to herself. Yes, she supposed sleep was indeed an important matter.  
The People of the Light welcomed the players back graciously, leading them to the main chamber where a lavish meal was served. Teal'c's wife, Drey'auc  
was waiting at the table.  
"I am told you were victorious, my son!" she beamed, putting her hands on her son's shoulders.   
"Indeed, my mother!" R'yac confirmed.  
" He shows great skill and leadership, my wife. He will make a fine addition to the fight against the false gods" Teal'c told her.Drey'auc quieted at this, for she did not treasure the idea of her son being sent to fight the powerful Goa'uld.  
"Come, eat" she said. Teal'c followed his wife to the other end of the table while the younger ones joined their comrades to discuss the recent game. They cheered, argued and laughed over the finer points of the game, for which Cassi was always the final judge of. Finally, the meal came to an end and the teens disperesed in various directions.  
"Teal'c, when do we go?" Cass asked.  
"We may remain for another three hours" Teal'c replied.  
"Cool! C'mon R'yac, I brought you something!" Cassi led her friend to where she'd dumped her gear. She dug around in the back pack until she found what she'd been looking for.  
"What is it?"  
"It's a book" Cass answered. R'yac turned it over and over in his hands.  
"It's where we keep information, like rules, and laws and stories, like legends" she told him.  
"How does it work?" R'yac asked excitedly. Cass laughed.  
"It doesn't 'work'." she told him, "You read it. Tik said you should learn to read and write my language so I thought this would be a good way to do it. This is my favorite book. My Dad used to read it to me when I was a kid. It's called 'The Swiss Family Robinson' " R'yac considered it, then lifted the cover. Cass flipped the pages to the opening so R'yac could peruse the combined letters and words.  
"What is the tale about?" he asked.  
"Ah!" Cass wiggled her eyebrows excitedly, "It's about this family who lived in the past. Their ship recks and they have to survive on this island by themselves with limited resources!" R'yac looked skeptical, but Cass assured him he'd like it once he got into it.   
"First, you have to learn the letters and their sounds. It shouldn't be too hard, you can already speak it fairly well" So, and R'yac sat down to start his lessons. In an hour, he had the whole alphabet memorized correctly. Cassi was surprised at how quickly he learned it, but, then, he had a firm hold on speaking it. And putting sounds with letters wasn't terribly hard to do. They were about to go find Teal'c when there was a commotion outside. The pair went to investigate. Two men in SGC uniforms were being led straight to them.  
"Lt. Anders? What are you doing here?" Cass asked. She could feel the urgency pounding through him.   
"I'm sorry Doctor, " the young man saluted her. She waved the formality away.  
"Where's Teal'c, ma'am?" the Lt. asked.   
"I am here" Teal'c said from behind him, "What has happened?" The Lt. swivled around, startled.  
"I don't know sir," he answered, facing Cass again, "I was told to bring you back immediately, no exceptions, no delays. Colonel O'Neill said to use the word 'lightsaber' " Cassi snapped a look at Teal'c. That was the code word their family had devised in case of dire circumstances.   
"Our things" Teal'c said. They appeared at his feet. Cass gave the Lt. and his accompainment a regretful look.  
"Sorry, Anders, but you're too slow" she said, "Bye R'yac. Keep practicing!" Then she was down the stairs and racing through the field below at such a rate it would've taken a death glider to keep up, the men, even Teal'c, trailing along just behind her as she pulled them telekineticly. 


	3. The Crossover

Branches  
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.   
  
To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?   
  
Sydney Bristo rolled over and hit something warm, but hard. She was on her feet and ready to defend before she was awake.  
"Good morning to you too" Sydney sighed and crawled back into bed.  
"Sorry" she said and snuggled closer to Vaughn.   
"That's alright" he replied, "It's been a rough couple weeks" Sydney could have argued that it had been a rough couple of years, but she just wanted to forget about her life and go back to sleep. But life wasn't that kind. Her phone rang just before Vaughn's did. She drug herself out of bed and started getting dressed. Vaughn followed suit and they were soon in the CIA building. Sydney's father was waiting for them.  
"What's up?" Sydney asked.  
"We may have a tag on Sloan" Jack reported and they made for the briefing room. Marshall was there but Sydney's father gave the presentation.  
"We think that Sloan has aquired a new Rimbaldi artifact" he started.  
"Another one?" Sydney exclaimed.  
"I though he had them all" Vaughn added.  
"Apparently not" Bristo answered, " Sloan recently made a large deposit in this man's bank account" A photo of a man, dark hair, sharp jaw line, probably about 40, appeared on their screens.   
"We have reason to believe he had access to some kind of genetic record in a Rimbaldi artifact"  
"Who is he?" Vaughn asked.  
"We don't know" Bristo answered frankly, "We know he's ex military, Air Force we think. We made the account match by visual surveliance."  
"So what's the mission?" Sydney asked.  
"The first thing to do is find Sloan. You have to find this man" Another image appeared, "Dante Kolsaki. He will deliver the goods to Sloan."  
"If he has the goods, why don't we extract them?" Vaughn asked.  
"No good. We want Sloan" Bristo replied, "You have to inject him with a tracing chemical" He looked at Marshall who stood up then.  
"Okay, what you see is just a normal...uh, what's the word?.......uh...." he was getting flustered as he tended to do, "You know...it goes on your eyelashes...."  
"Mascara?" Sydney offered.  
"Yeah! That's it....so this looks like a mascara, right? Wrong!" He pulled the "applicator" out. A thing needle had replaced the brush.  
"This is full of a chemical they actually use in making computers, it's toxic, but safe in small increments and it's very traceable. Cool, huh? Anyway, all you have to do is stick him with it, then, use THIS" Marshal picked up what looked like a palm pilot "to track him"  
"Anything else?" Sydney asked.  
"Yes" her father paused, "The Air Force is sending an attache. She's going with you" Another picture appeared on their screen. The girl was very pretty, with blue-brown eyes and caramel colored hair that fell just to her shoulders.  
"What do we know about her?" Sydney asked.  
"Not much" her father answered, "All of her files were classified all the way up to the President. We couldn't even get any information from the Pentagon. All we know is, her name is Cassandra Carter-O'Neill"  
"Do we know what it was?" Cass asked Hammond.  
"We're not sure. The CIA says this man Sloan is after genetic material. All we really know is that it came through the second stargate" Hammond told her.  
"The second stargate? How is that possible?" Cass exclaimed.  
"We don't know that either. We do know that this" the General gestured to their files where a picture of a man was paperclipped in, "man is the one who sold whatever it was to Sloan"  
"His name is Erik Kiezer" Jack told her, "He worked under Maybourne at Norad"  
Well that explains it Cass said exasperatedly.  
"The CIA has jurisdiction over this, but they've agreed to let two of our people to tag along. You're parents are out of the question, so...."  
"Why? What happened?" Cass demanded.  
"Oh, nothing much. Richard just hovered about an inch above the ground for a few minutes this morning" Jack told her. Cassi's jaw dropped.   
"And I could've sworn Amanda told me she was hungry" her mother added. Cassi just stared at them.  
"Bu......I.......I just saw them this morning! I didn't PROBE them, but........I should've caught something!" she exclaimed. They could all hear her amazement and anger at herself.  
"Where are they now?"  
"In the infirmary with Dr. Fraiser, you can stop in on your way out" Hammond answered. Cassi's head snapped up.  
"Out?"  
"Yes. You and Teal'c are going to Los Angeles as our attaches" he informed her.  
"Why are you sending me and Teal'c?!" They could all tell she was upset about the news about her siblings. She had repeatedly told Jack how hard it was for her growing up, dealing with these strange and amazing abilities. She didn't want her little brother and sister to go through that.   
"Because, Doctor, you are the most qualified and available to go" Hammond answered, "If it's Goa'uld technology they've brought back, we're going to need someone familiar with it to be there. And someone who can hadle it. That's you"  
Dad? What about Manny and Chards? I'm the only one who can help them! Jack didn't want to answer her out loud, so he just kind of thought something.   
You can help them when you get back. They need you on this one, NOW. Your brother and sister can make it for a couple days.   
"They'll be fine for a while" Sam voiced, reinforcing her husband's thought. Cass looked at Teal'c who was waiting for her response. She looked at the General.  
"Yes, sir" 


	4. A Father Named Jack

Branches  
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.   
  
To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?   
AN: Cass is Sam's height and I'm guessing on Sam's height here. Sorry if I'm wrong!  
  
Sydney waited with her father at the front desk. They were schedualed to leave as soon as this O'Neill woman got there. Vaughn was already at the airport. Sydney thought they were just wasting time, having O'Neill come here when she could have just met them at the airport, but her father didn't trust the military anymore than he had trusted SD-6 and he wanted to meet this attache before he sent his people, especially his daughter, on a mission with her.   
"She's late" Sydney remarked, glancing at her watch. She was supposed to have been there 3 minutes ago.  
"I was correct. We should have gone left" a man's deep voice said. Sydney turned. Coming through the door was a very tall man with a baseball cap pulled low over his forehead and a girl with her hair pulled out the back of another cap. They both wore jeans and black t-shirts. The girl was almost as tall as the man, a good 6'1" or 2" at least, a couple inches taller than Sydney. The men seemed to be a tower.   
"We're here, aren't we?" the girl said to him. Sydeny guestimated her at 18, 19 years old. She stopped in front of Sydney.   
"Hi there" she said cheerfully, "You must be Bristo, right?"   
"Yes. I'm Sydney, this is my father Jack" Sydney said, not sure which Bristo the girl wanted. The girl tipped her hat up a bit and Sydney was surprised to recognize her face as that of the Air Force attache.  
"No kidding! You're dad's name is Jack?" she exclaimed, shaking Bristo's hand, "So's mine! He also happens to be my CO. Guess we have a lot in common"   
"It's nice to meet you" Bristo said, "And you are?"  
"This is....Murry." O'Neill replied, " He comes with"   
"We were told you were coming alone" Bristo said. O'Neill shrugged.  
"Don't know what they told ya, but thisis how it is" she said firmly, then lightened up, "Don't worry. He's not great for joking with, but he's a good man and a damn good fighter" The tall man raised an eyebrow at this comment, but didn't say anything.   
"We don't have a lot of time" Sydney reminded her father. Bristo nodded.  
"Follow me" A car awaited them in the back and took them directly to the plane where Vaughn was waiting on them. They all piled in and took off, leaving Sydney's father behind.  
"This is Agent Vaughn" Sydney told them, "Vaughn, Cassandra Carter-O'Neill, and Murry."  
"Call me Cassi" she told them, shaking his hand.  
"Kolsaki is staying at a family hotel in Madrid, Spain. Our cover was going to be a family vacation, a brother and 2 sisters, but with him......" Sydney looked at Teal'c. Cass looked at her companion.   
"Good point" she said, "Murry, you've just become a personal bell boy"   
"What is a bell boy?" Teal'c asked. The girl rolled her eyes.  
"You'll find out" she answered.  
"So, Cassi, you're kind of young to be high up in the military ranks, aren't you?" Vaughn asked. He could tell Sydney wanted to know, but she was unwilling to ask.  
"Well, OFFICAlly" she emphasized the word, "I'm not in the military. I'm not of legal age yet, so they can't employ me either. All my paychecks just kind of get split between my Mom and Dad"  
"You're mom's in the service too?" Sydney asked, "I didn't think that was allowed" Cass looked at Teal'c but he just looked back.  
"Special circumstances" was all she'd say.  
"So why are you on this mission? There must be a good reason" Sydney continued.  
"Well, I am the best in my fields" the girl answered, but not smugly. Sydney got an odd feeling from her, as if she knew more about things than she ought to know. If she was underage, she couldn't be any younger than 17, but Sydney saw in her eyes experience in the unkind ways of the world beyond her years. The feeling unsettled her.   
"And what are your fields?" Vaughn asked.  
"I have PhD's in ancient history, astrophysics, theoretical sciences and linguistics" she replied non chalantly, "I have basic degrees in some other stuff like sociology, earth sciences, electronics, mathmatics, stuff like that" She waved the lesser degress off like a high school diploma. Sydney just stared at her. She had to be lying! But Sydney didn't get the impression she was, or that she ever did, unless someone started prying into that classified life of hers. Sydney thought that disturbed her even more.  
"So, you're a geek?" Sydney gave Vaughn a surprised look. Cassi burst out laughing. She held her hand out, which Vaughn took.   
"You're okay by me!" she declared, "Daddy always said don't trust someone without a sense of humor!"   
"Indeed" Murry commented, "He says that often"   
"Anyway, you don't have to worry about me. You pick things up living in the.....well working with the military anyway. I'm also an expert in weapons, self defense and strategy" she paused and looked at her friend, "Or so they tell me"  
"That's impossible! You can't possibly know all of that!" Sydney objected.  
"Cassi O'Neill is a formidable warrior, Agent Bristo, and also quite intelligent" Murry said.  
"No one's denying that, Murry" Vaughn interceded, not wanting to get off on the wrong foot. Especially with a man that size. Not that he and Syd couldn't take him of course. Cassi smiled graciously.   
"Don't worry" she assured them, "Don't really expect you to believe me anyway" Suddenly, Sydney wasn't worried about the girl's outrageous claims. In fact, she'd forgotten all about them. Her mind turned to the mission ahead. She grabbed a folder out of her pack, ready to brief O'Neill, but when she turned back, the girl's head was on her companions lap and she was asleep.  
"Um, is she okay?" Sydney asked the strange man.  
"Cassi requires many hours of sleep. Dr. Fraiser suggested she sleep on the voyage." he answered. Sydney and Vaughn both wondered why he spoke so.....formally. It was almost as if he were from another planet.   
"What's wrong with her?' Vaughn asked. "Murry" tilted his head to the side.  
"I have just said there is nothing wrong"   
"No, I mean....why does she need her own doctor, why does she need so much sleep?" he amended.  
"Dr. Fraiser is not her personal doctor, she is her aunt and is most familiar with her medical history. She often gives Cassi such medical advise. As for why Cassi requires so much sleep, I can not tell you that. If you should require us, please wake us" He replied and then closed his eyes as well, though neither CIA agent believed he was really asleep. Niether knew, either, if that "can not tell you" meant the information was classified, or if he simply didn't know.   
"What do you think?" Vaughn asked quietly, leaning against the side of the plane. Sydney studied the odd couple for a moment then shrugged.   
"We'll see I guess" 


	5. Back at Home

Branches  
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.   
  
To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?   
  
"I can't find a single thing, Colonel!" Janet told Jack, who had been waiting for the results of the tests she'd run on his twins.   
"Well, there's got to be something!" he exclaimed, "You can record stuff when Cass is being all...psychic"  
"Yeah, but, Jack, she has to be doing something for us to record. They haven't done anything out of the ordinary since Saturday" Sam told him.   
"Well, there's got to be some way to find out if they're....like Cass" he argued.   
"We did run some labs on their blood samples" Janet told him, "And the same hormones that are really high in Cassi are slightoly above normal in the twins"   
"But that doesn't mean much, right now, Jack" Sam was quick to add. She was much more sedate about this whole thing than he was. It didn't bother her one bit that all three of their children might have abnormal psychic powers. Of course, she didn't have the implanted memories of what Cassi went through as a child either; the secret life with little peer contact and a constant worry about who might find out what she was and what they would do if they did. Not to mention the terror it put Cass through, trying to control something with little to no help from anyone else because, frankly, there was nothing they could do to help. And all those tests........No, Jack wasn't thrilled with the idea that his children would have to grow up like that.   
"Of course, the only way to really know is for Cass to check them out" Janet informed him.   
"Which we'll have her do as soon as she gets back" Sam assured him, "For now, we just need to keep an eye on them"   
"Just tell me...one thing" Jack asked of them, "How did this happen? How can it even be possible?"  
"Well, sir, we don't really know what the Bar'ak'Tu did to you while you were prisoners" Janet informed him, "They very possibly could have done something to your genetic code to pass on certain traits"  
"If that's true, then they would have programmed us to pass along both telekinesis and telepathy to the same child right?" Sam questioned.  
"Probably" Janet agreed.  
"Samantha?"   
"Listen, my egg split, by some fluke we got two sexes, but we're confident that the egg split"  
"Samantha!" Jack didn't care to hear the "birds and the bees"  
"No, listen, Jack. Richard hovered, Amanda used telepathy. They might not have both ablitites" Janet considered.  
"It's possible" she said.  
"Cass'll know" Sam said.  
"Cass isn't here" Jack pointed out. Sam could tell he'd thought about her a lot since she'd been gone. When she'd asked him about it, he'd said something about being a POW, and having a bad feeling about her mission.  
"I think we'll be okay until she get's back, Jack" Sam smiled at him as if he were an over protective parent. Well, maybe he was.   
"Fine, all right!" he said, "Where are they now?"  
"With Daniel" his wife answered.  
"You left them with Daniel?" he repeated and went in search of his friend. He found him in one of the "bed rooms", the one Teal'c used to occupy. The twins were asleep in their carriers.   
"That's a small miracle" Jack said quietly as he entered. Daniel looked up and back at the kids.  
"Yeah, tell me about it" Daniel replied, "They agreed on something for a change" Jack took a seat next to his friend at the table.   
"What did Janet say?" his friend asked.  
"Oh.....a whole lotta nothin" Jack answered, "Something about their hormone levels being elevated, but they said that didn't mean anything"   
"Well, they didn't do any Cassi-like stuff in here" Daniel told him, "Speaking of which, any word from Cass?"  
"Nope. Actually, " Jack checked his watch, "They're probably just getting into Spain now. She should get ahold of use soon. I'll let ya know"  
"What do you think it is this Sloan guy has?"  
"Don't know. If it's anything Goa'uld, Teal'c will know. It it's anything else, Cass'll know what to do" Jack answered his friend, but Daniel could tell he was still worried. Jack had, not changed, but revealed more of the sensitive side that Daniel had always known was there. Oh, he was hard as ever, and maybe Daniel was just getting to know him better, but he thought he saw what Jack must've been like before Charlie died.  
"I'm sure they're fine, Jack" he assured his friend. Jack nodded.   
"Yeah" 


	6. The Mission: Part One

Branches  
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.   
  
To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?   
"Look, I told Mom I'd take you on vacation, and I'm taking you on vacation!"  
"I'm missing my board meeting! They could do anything while I'm gone!"  
"I left three experiments in the hands of those idiots that work in the lab! A year's worth of work could be ruined in the span of second!"  
Only the tall man, obviously an employee, remained quiet as the entourage crossed the main lobby. The young man sighed and rolled his eyes as he reached the counter, the two young ladies tapping their feet behind him.  
"Sisters, huh?" he smiled at the desk clerk, "Reservations for Borderman, David Borderman" The clerk looked his name up and found the man's keys. As they followed the bell boy away, he made a mental note to warn the hotel employees about the finicky family.  
  
  
Vaughn shut the door and behind him, the Air Force attache burst out laughing.   
"Oh, that was fun!" she said, "You guys get to do that a lot?" Sydney and Vaughn exchanged looks.  
"Ah, not so often" he said.  
"We've got to find Kolsaki. His flight leaves tomorrow night" Sydney said.   
"Oh, back to work, pooh!" O'Neill complained, "All right, Kolsaki huh? How do you propose we find him?"   
"We hack into the security system and use it to find out what room he's in" Sydney told her.  
"Oh. Yeah. That works" She and Teal'c went to the next room, leaving Sydney and Vaughn to get ready on their own.   
"Do you think Agent Bristo's plan will be succesfull?" Teal'c asked.  
"Oh, yeah. It's their forte anyway, ours doesn't come into play until we find this Sloan guy and find whatever it is he bought from Kiezer"   
The two pairs met in the hall and made their way to the correct room. It was no problem, with Vaughn's nifty gadgets, to break into the security room. Luckily, the guard was working, facing away from the door, and so didn't see their faces before Sydeny put him out.  
"He's in room 612" she told them a bare moment later. They moved out and up to the sixth floor. They did their best to look unhappy to keep up with the cover story they wouldn't need much longer.  
"We're not going to do it now are we?" O'Neill asked quietly as they approached the door. Sydeny slowed.  
"Why shouldn't we? Time is important here"  
"So is surprise though" the girl answered, "If we do it now, he'll leave right away and either won't go to Sloan, or Sloan'll know we're coming" They were close to the door now.  
"She's right" Vaughn whispered. Sydney had to make the decision now.  
  
  
She walked right past the door.  
  
"We'll do it tonight, while he's asleep" she suggested when they were back in their rooms.   
"We don't all need to go" Vaughn pointed out.  
"I will remain here" Murry said.   
"So will I, the two of you should be able to get in and out quickly enough" Vaughn agreed.  
The two military attaches left the connecting door between their rooms open, as a sign of good will perhaps? Vaughn and Sydney sat down to do some background work on the mission. Sydney peeked into their room when she got up to get a hair tie. The tall man, Murry, was sititng cross legged on the bed with his eyes closed. The girl was spread across the foot of the bed, staring at the ceiling.  
"Is there any news of your siblings?" the man asked. The girl wasn't blinking, in fact, she looked amost comotose. At the man's question, however, she blinked and sat up.  
"Dad's worried about them, even though they haven't done anything since we've been gone" she answered, "Mom and Fraise aren't so worried. Their hormone levels are a bit high, and they think they have a theory about how it happened" The man opened his eyes.  
"This is good news, is it not?" The girl seemed hesitant, but nodded. Sydeny returned to her spot next to Vaughn.  
"There's something strange about those two" she said quietly.  
"You're just now deciding that?" Vaughn joked, "Do you think they are who they say they are?" Sydney gave him a look.  
"Considering they haven't said who they are....I don't know. We'll know after tonight I guess"   
An hour or so later, O'Neill stuck her head in the room.   
"Murry and I are hungry. Wanna go eat?"   
"Sure!" Sydney welcomed the break from her work, and the anxiety her decision to wait had brought on. They went somewhere else, so they could eat without putting a show on for the hotel.  
When the waiter came, he came with four plates for O'Neill.  
"Are you really going to eat all of that yourself?" Vaughn asked.  
"Cassandra requires much nutrition, Agent Vaughn" her friend answered for her, "I have seen her eat 11 boxes of take out chinese food by herself when she was truly hungry" Cassi made a face, as if she were truly emabarassed.  
"We try to kep that in the family" she jabbed him with her elbow. He raised any eyebrow but didn't flinch.  
After O'Neill had consumed all of her food (it only took a couple minutes longer than the rest of them) they returned to the hotel to carry out their mission.  
"His room has a balcony, three florrs down, three rooms over" Vaughn told the women as they harnessed up.   
"If he's not in his room, hide and wait until he is. Hopefully, he's already in bed" The ladies acknowledged and crawled over the saftey rail on their own balcony. Sydney let go first, decending a few feet.  
"I'll be home before supper, ma!" Cass said and let go with a twinkle in her eye. Vaughn looked at Murry.  
"Is she always like that?" Teal'c stared the air.   
"Always" he replied. The men went back to the computers which were tapped into the hallway security cameras. Vaughn put his ear piece in just in time to hear Sydney.   
"There's something wrong with my harness!" she reported, "It's stuck"   
"Don't pull it so hard!" O'Neill told her.  
"I can't get it loose!"   
"Don't yank on it like that, you'll break it!"   
  
  
The next thing they heard was Sydney gasp and the rope snap outside. 


	7. An Expose of Talent

Branches  
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.   
  
To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?   
"Sydney!" Vaughn exclaimed and both he and Teal'c rushed to the balcony. The thick cover of night made it hard to see what was going on, but the diluted light shinning through other guest's pulled curtains revealed the shadowy form of Sydney, a floor lower than she should've been.  
"Sydney, are you all right?" Vaughn asked pressing his hand on his ear piece.  
"Yeah. I think I caught on something"   
"You caught on ME" they heard Cassi respond, "Hurry up and get on to the balcony so I can let go!"  
"You're holding her up?" Vaughn asked, shocked.  
"Agent Vaughn, what is happening?" Murry asked from beside him.  
"Sydney's rope caught on Cassi's. I think"  
"May I make use of your communication device?" Vaughn grabbed one from the desk in the room.   
"Cassi?" the man sounded concerned.....Vaughn thought. His tone didn't change much.  
"Murry?" Cassi's voice sounded a bit strained.  
"Are you holding Agent Bristo?"   
"Yep"  
"Can she move when you do so?" Vaughn gave him an odd look. What were they talking about?  
"She's working on it"   
"Is it very difficult?" Only a grunt answered.  
"Your father will be unhappy with me. As will Dr. Fraiser" Another grunt was all he got, "I will prepare proper nutrition"  
"There's money in my pack. In the laser pocket" was the response this time. Vaughn couldn't believe she was going to be hungry after that gigantic meal she had eaten just a couple hours before. "Murry" dashed into their room and returned again. Vaughn felt helpless, just waiting for some kind of news.  
"I must procure food for Cassi. Will you be able to assist them without me?" he asked. Vaughn nodded an affirmative.   
"I shall return swiftly, Agent Vaughn" he said and was gone. Unable to see any thing else below, Vaughn returned to his "look out" post.   
"Sydney's on the balcony" Cassi said quietly in his ear, "I'm decending"  
Below, Cassi safely reached the correct blacony and Sydney pulled her on. The CIA agent pulled up the end of her rope which had been completely severed.   
"What did this catch on?" she hissed, knowing full well she should be a splatter on the pavement far below.  
"Never mind" Cassi brushed it aside, "Is he in there?" Sydney let the rope go and held a hand held heat detector to the window.   
"Yes. He's in the bed. But I don't know if he's asleep or not" she answered quietly. Cassi closed her eyes, as if listening, for just a second.  
"He is" she informed her partner and went to slide the door open. It was locked. She smirked at Sydney.  
"Guess he wasn't expecting us" she said. Sydney shook her head with a slightly bemused smile. She wondered if O'Neill would have a comment for every situation they got into. The girl knelt by the lock and then slid the door open. Sydney nearly gaped.  
"You must be the fastest pick ever" she complimented her.  
You've no idea! she heard, but wasn't sure Cassi had spoken. She brushed it aside as they moved into the room. Niether spoke as Sydney pulled the "mascara" out. She was surprised when Kolsaki didn't even flinch when she pushed the needle through his skin. She was thinking this whole mission had been far too easy when they retreated to the balcony.   
"How am I going to get back up?" she asked, more of herself than of Cassi, while examining the useless harness.  
"Take mine" Cassi said, handing her the equipment.  
"Then how are you going to get back up?" Sydney asked.  
"I'll climb" the girl answered, rearranging herself to carry the broken harness they couldn't risk leaving behind. Sydeny looked up the building dubiously. Other than the balconies, which were about 6 feet above each other and a good ten feet apart, the walls were perfectly smooth.  
"You'll CLIMB?" Cassi gave her an exasperated look, shoving her harness into Sydney.  
"Just go!" she hissed. Sydeny suited up and started pulling herself up, with the mechanic aid of her harness. Vaughn helped pull her over the saftey rail just as the door opened and Murry came back in, his arms full of several containers. They both turned back around to watch as their strange Air Force attache balanced on the rail of a balcony and leapt up to the next one, pulled herself up almost silently onto that on and repeated the procedure until she reached their balcony and the agents pulled her to safety. She stood a little wobbly, and breathing hard. Her friend looked at her for a moment.   
"You're father will be most displeased" was all he said. Cassi just smiled, moving her head as if she were talking. Murry straightened his shoulders and raised a brow that disappeared beneath the hat he never seemed to take off. Cass had removed all of her gear and gave it to Vaughn. She took a step and stumbled. Sydeny caught her, but Murry was close.  
"You have overextended yourself" he stated, helping her to the chair and table where he had deposited her food. She hungril dug into the menagerei of dishes.  
"I didn't overextend myself" she told him through a mouth of mashed potatoes and swiss meatballs, "I did it physically, that last part"  
"Is there any other way to do it?" Vaughn asked as he and Sydney stored their gear. Niether attache responded. Murry joined them on the balcony.  
"What will be our objective tomorrow?" he asked.  
"Make sure the tracker works, then follow him" Sydney answered. They all turned at the sound of crashing stierafoam. Cass had fallen asleep, all the food gone.  
"Guess she was tired" Vaughn commented. Murry collected his "charge" from the chair.  
"You will dispose of the containers?"  
"Sure, no problem" Vaughn answered. Murry carried Cass back to their room. Sydney watched from around the corner as he stripped her to her tank top and pants and then slid her beneath the covers.  
"Tik?" she murmered sleepily.  
"Hush. Sleep" he responded, pulling the switch on the light. 


	8. Of Parachutes and Men

Branches  
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.   
  
To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?   
AN: Ahem...just in case. Sydney and Vaughn don't know Cass used telekinetic powers to save Syd. They think she just .....did it.   
  
The next morning proved that their mission had been a success so far. They spent the day tracking Kolsaki everywhere he went; the pool, the hotel restaurant, a toy store, back to his room. They were all mystified by the toy store, but ignored it as simple strange behavior. Kolsaki was known to be a family man, maybe he was picking upa souvenier.   
He had a private flight schedualed to leave the Madrid airport at 6:30pm, for where they didn't know as he hadn't logged a destination yet. The plan was to stowaway on the air plane then use the tracker to follow him to wherever he was going.  
They had a little trouble finding somewhere to effectivly "stowaway" as there was no real cargo space on the jet, but they found an appropriate room near the landing gear that they could hunker down in. They didn't speak because really it would have been too loud to hear anything anyway.  
They still had no idea where they were going when, after only an hour, they began to land. Sydeny and Vaughn wanted to get off right away, but Cassi told them to wait. They were on the ground only a couple of minutes before they took off again.  
Just enough time to bring on some more cargo? Cass said silently to Teal'c. He inclined his head slightly to show his agreement.   
They'd been back in the air for about 20 minutes when a feeling made Cass perk up. It was unlike anything she'd felt before, being like a shadow of a mixture of two things she knew well. She had tuned herself out completely to the other humans on the plane, but she wasn't sure this was human. Or at least, not all human. She opened herself up a bit more and realized there were now more men aboard the plane. A contingen in fact. She crawled over to Bristo and brought her mouth right up to the woman's ear.   
"I think something's up!" she said over the noise. Sydeny gave her a look. Cassi didn't know how to explain so she just shrugged. She used two fingers to point at her eyes, then the door, suggesting they do a little surevelance. The CIA agent looked hesitant. She crawled to Vaughn and spoke with him. Cass waited. The man stood and she saw him nod. She looked back at Teal'c.   
Something's wrong. We're going to have a look around she told him. He immediately stood, the hand gun he'd been given ready in his hand. They moved to the door and out in stealth mode. They were still at the back of the plane where there were no guards so they moved quickly for a few moments. Then they reached a door. There was no where else to go but back, which Bristo promptly suggested they do. Then they heard the rapid succesion of gun shots. Cass didn't wait for approval, already knowing they would find corpses on the other side, she kicked the door in and entered. The next minute or two was a blur. They had caught the killers by surprise for a second, but they soon rushed the intruders. Firearms being useless in such close quarters, and Cassi restricted by orders, they fell to hand to hand combat. The action was intense. It was 8 to 4 in the bad guys' favor. Sydney sucker punched one assailant, then spun to deliver a kick to another's jaw. She was grappled from behind and used a small coffee table to give him a blow to the head with her feet.   
Cass hopped into the air, flipped and landed behind her assailant where she deftly knocked him out with a blow to the right spot in his back. She dropped to the floor and tripped her next assailant, giving him a quick hit at the nape of his neck.   
Vaughn and Teal'c had disposed adequately of the rest of the killers, but they were only in time for the door to open. A blue eyed blonde man stepped through the thresh hold and Cass got the urge to run from him.  
"Sark" Sydney said. The man inclined his head politely.  
"Sydney. How nice to see you" and then he fired at her. She ducked, Vaughn dove, and Cassi made sure the bullet missed. Both CIA agents beat a hasty retreat the way they had come, their attaches on their heels and Sark just behind them, letting a shot off now and again. Finally they reached their hide away room, a dead end, and got the door closed.  
"That won't last long!" Cass shouted. Sydney looked around almost frantically as the sounds of Sark trying to break down the door reached their ears. She found what she was looking for hanging near the hatch. She grabbed 4 bags and handed them out. Cassi stared at it.   
"Are you crazy!" she shouted, "It's dark! You won't be able to see the ground!" Sydney did notice her use of "you" but saved the question for later. She didn't respond, but rather pulled a pair of nigh vision goggles out of her ever useful pack. Vaughn was doing the smae. So, Cassi grinned and nodded and as she and Teal'c put thier packs on, Sydney blew the hatch. And just in time too, because then Sark made it through the door. The CIA agents seemed to be waiting, Teal'c wasn't ready yet, but Cassi yelled,   
"Go, go, go!" So they went. Sark fired at them but missed.  
Don't worry about it Tik! Cassi told her companion, I'll carry you! He nodded and together they hopped out the door into the dark, cool, barely breathable air. 


	9. La Petite Lorain

Branches  
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.   
  
To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?   
  
Cassi had a hard enough time keeping Teal'c from plummetting to the ground faster than she was without keeping track of the two CIA agents somewhere below them. Her telepathic powers were not designed to use as radar detection, and so she had only a vauge idea of when they would splatter onto the earth. Teal'c became increasingly heavy as he picked up speed and as her parachute exploded open, she moved him closer to herself to keep better track of him. The wind whistled past her ears and blasted at her face. She slowed their fall even more as she spotted what looked like corn. Slower....slower......they were almost floating. Then they landed. Rather abrubtly too, for it seemed to Cassi thta the ground had suddenly materialized from nowhere. She made sure Teal'c had landed without injury, but as her chute fell all around her like a homicidal blanket, she realized she'd hit her head........  
  
"Cassandra. Are you awake?" Cassi winced and sat up. Teal'c had bundled the chute into a pillow for her. They hadn't moved from their landing spot, in a field of corn.  
"Ooo...I hope not!" she replied.  
"You have injured your head" Teal'c informed her.   
"What gave you that silly idea?" Teal'c had been around humans long enough to know he shouldn't answer. Cassi groaned and stood up. Teal'c was seated to her left and she could tell by the bent stalks where he had landed. She felt around her head and found the tender bumb thta was the evidence of her bad landing. She suspected Teal'c had already tended to it, so she dropped her hands and surveyed their surroundings.   
"We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto"   
"Who is Toto?" Cassi frowned at her friend.  
"Never mind" she replied, "C'mon" She gathered her back pack and led him to a small road that seemed to stretch straight to the horizon in both directions. She nodded to their left, which was north, and they started walking.   
"We're not in Spain anymore" she told Teal'c after an hour or so of walking.   
"Neither are we in Kansas. Where, then, are we?" he asked, peeking at her from the corner of his eyes. He knew she must be starving but she said nothing and indeed had a smile on her face. He expected her to start whistling any moment.   
"I'd say we're in France" she said instead, "There's a village up ther" she told him, pointing.  
"I see nothing"  
"Neither do I, but I can hear them" she made a face, "The French are noisy" So they continued on.  
She was right. After another hour of walking they reached the outskirts of what seemed to be a small rural village. An old man passed them with a cart of leafy greens as they entered the town and tipped his hat at them. Cass smiled and said "Bonjour!" They continued on into the small village. They seemed to be on the main street. Houses and store fronts were packed together. They moved onto the sidewalks as an old truck puttered by. The early morning light was hard at work buring away the last of the morning coolness and people started emerging onto the streets.   
"There!" Cass exclaimed, pointing at a colorfully painted house at the end of the street, on the other side of the square. There was a sign hanging above it, but Teal'c couldn't read it as it was in French.  
"A bed and breakfast. Perfect" Cass told him and glanced at her watch, "It's just about breakfast time" They continued on and a little bell rang as they entered. There was no counter or anything, just a foyer with a little old man dusting a vase. He looked surprised to have customers so early, but smiled kindly none the less.  
"Bonjour, Monsieur, Madame! (hello, sir, ma'am!)" he said brightly.  
"Mademoiselle" Cass corrected him, "Avez-vous une ouverture? (Do you have an opening?)"   
"Oui, mademoiselle, oui! Un ou deux? (Yes, ma'am, yes! One or two?)"  
"Un, ci vous plait! (One please)"  
"Oui, oui! Suivez-moi. Vous etes americain, non? (Yes, yes. Follow me please. You are american, no?)" The man led them through a sitting room to a small room, probably a former pantry, which had been converted to a small office. An older woman sat at the desk filling out some paper work by hand.  
"Peux je presenter mon espouse, Claire Marie. Ces jeunes voudraient une salle, chere. (May I introduce my wife, Claire Marie? These young people would like a room, dear)"  
The old woman smiled just as kindly as her husband had and she and Cass soon had their arrangements made. Cass rummaged in her pack and drew out her father's credit card.  
"Your father said to use the card only in an emergency, Cassandra" Teal'c objected. The elderly couple stopped and looked at him expectantly. They obviously didn't understand English and were waiting patiently.   
"Look, Teal'c we need somewhere to stay and I need some food" She let him in on the demands her stomach was making. He was surprised she hadn't said anything before, the pain was quite intense. He nodded his agreement and she handed the card to the old woman.  
"Jock O'Nee-ill?" she asked, looking at Teal'c.  
How are you at forging? Cass asked in his head while at the same time she said,  
"Mon pere (my father)" with a polite smile. The woman nodded and finnished swiping the card. When Cass had signd, the old man said he would take them to their room.   
"Vous avez-aucun bagage? (Have you no baggage?)" he asked as they started up the old set of stairs. Teal'c wondered if everything in France was old.  
"Non, il a ete vole de nous, et notre guide a abandonnes, exterieur juste de ville. (No, it was stolen from us, and our guide deserted us just outside of town)" she told him. He reached the top of the stairs and opened the door to their room.   
"Suc me bleu! Est-ce que je dois appeler la police? (Oh my! Shall I call the police?)" he asked alarmidly as they surveyed the room.  
"Non, non!" Cass answered quickly, "J'appellerai ma soeur. Elle et son mari viendront. (I'll call my sister. She and her husband will come)" The mad nodded obligingly.   
"J'irai faire le petit dejeuner. Il sera pret en vingt minutes! ( I will go make breakfast. It will be ready in twenty minutes!)" The old man closed the door behind him.  
"Thank god!" Cass said as she flopped on the bed. Teal'c raised an eyebrow but was used to the expression.  
"What did he say?" he asked. Cassi was getting somewhat pale.  
"He's going to make breakfast" she answered and had her backpack float to her. Teal'c took his hat off and studied the village out the window. There was nothing untoward so he turned back around. The room was circular, the top floor of a turret like part of the house. The bed was very large and draped in curtains, which were pulled back at the moment. A stand with a lamp and phone stood on either side, a chest of drawers with a mirror mounted on the wall behind it. There were tapestries hanging on the stone walls and there was only one door.   
A grunt from Cassi drew his attention. She was struggling with the plating on the bottom of the phone. She was using a screw driver to pry it off. Finally, it sprang off and clattered to the florr. She pulled some wire out of her pack and fiddled with the electronics. When she was apparently satisfied with that part of her work, she unscrewed the covers of a the reciever and began making alterations to those.  
"What are you doing Cassandra?" he asked. She took the wire out of her mouth.  
"We hae to contact Bristo and Vaughn. I don't have a walkie-talkie, so I'm refitting this phone to work on the right frequency." she answered rather testily. Teal'c knew she was just tired and hungry. He watched as she continued changing the mechanics of the phone to suit her wishes. A polite knock on the door had her leaving her work and collecting the tray the kind old man had brought them. Though Teal'c was somewhat hungry, he allowed Cassi to eat most of the meal by herself. When she was done, she went back to work. ANother few minutes later, she put all the plating back on and plugged it in. She clicked it a couple of times, and then put the reciever to her ear.  
"Bristo?" she said quietly, "Vaughn?" Teal'c could not hear what the CIA agents replied, but he was sure they had.   
"We're at a bed and breakfast in La Petite Lorain, so I don't think we're far" She paused and listened.  
"Yes, we are close. We'll meet you in five hours"   
"You require sleep, Cassi O'Neill" Teal'c warned her. SHe gave him an exasperated look but didn't argue.  
"Ten hours then" she corrected and waited for confirmation. When she got it, she hung the phone up. Three minutes later, she fell off into sleep. 


	10. Amanda, Richard and Charlie?

Branches  
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.   
  
To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?   
  
Jack opened the door. Gret was standing there.  
"I haven't heard anything" he told the young man. Greg's hopeful look faded away as he crossed the threshhold into the house. He'd come home to find Cass away on an important mission after Lor had had a frightening premonition. She couldn't remember what it had been about, but Garanta, her symbiot, knew that it had had to do with Cassi. Makara worred, as the Tok'ra didn't have premonitions, at least that he knew of. Actually, it was more Makara's promptings than Greg's that kept bringing the young man to the O'Neill's door, a half a block from his own home with Lor and Batai.   
"I am worried about her" Makara admitted, following Jack to the den, "She has no symbiot, if she were hurt...."  
"She's done pretty well on her own till now" Jack assured him. His head dropped and Greg was back.   
"Makara, he is over worrisome." he apologized. He looked around the den. The babie's carriers sat on the ground, but only Amanda was in the play pen.   
"Where is Richard?" he asked. Jack pointed up. Richard was floating two feet above their heads, almost to the ceiling.  
"He's been up there for two hours" the boy's mother complained, entering from the kitchen. She smiled tiredly and hugged her Tok'ra (soon to be, someday) son in law.   
"I'm sure Cassi's fine" she said softly, then tilted her head to look at her son.   
"Wait until your sister gets home!" she told him, though Greg doubted the child really understood, "No more joy rides then!" The baby gurgled happily but did not decend. Sam rolled her eyes and looked at her husband despretly.   
"Will you do something?"  
"What do you want me to do, Sam? Call air control?" Jack replied. Sam rolled her eyes again.  
"Just get a chair and get him!" she ordered him. So Jack pulled a chair over and plucked his son out of the air. Greg shook his head at the scene. Family life at the O'Neill's house was odd indeed, but it had so far produced an intelligent, easy going and beautiful woman who was certainly more than he had ever expected, so he knew they were doing something right. He sighed, thinking of Cassi. He suddenly wished she could talk into his head as she did her father, just so he could hear her voice and know she was okay. Makara took no offense, fo he was worried about her too. But they took a cue from her parents and tried not to think about it, trust in Cassi's abilities.   
"I'll let you know when I hear something" Jack promised and Greg nodded.   
"C'mon" Sam picked Amanda up, "Let's have dinner"  
Meanwhile, in France.....  
  
Rain pelted them, making the terrain muddy and hard to traverse. Thankfully, the air was warm instead of cold.   
Cassi and Teal'c were making their way through a semi thick woods that seperated a high tech compound from the gate that protected it's perimeter. The main building was an old French castle, not big, but certainly not small. It had three circular towers ina triangular shape, with a three story stone building in between.   
"What is it with triangles?" Cassi muttered as they drew close to the edge of the woods where Cass had determined that the CIA agents were waiting for them.  
"Where are they?" Teal'c asked quietly.  
"O'Neill?" a quiet call came from their left. Vaughn and Bristo were laying flat on their stomachs in the grass. Cass pointed.  
"There" she said. Teal'c had the urge to roll his eyes. They made their way to the CIA agents.  
"Are you two alright?" Bristo asked. She noticed the girl looked pale. Vaughn had sprained his writs on their landing, but that was the worst of their injuries.  
"Bumped my head, but we're fine. Is Kolsaki in there?" Cass replied.  
"Yeah. Actually, I'm kind of surprised the castle was so close" Vaughn told her.  
"You're worried about it, but I wouldn't be" Cass told him absently, "I think this is where it's happening." She smiled brillantly at the two, "Shall we go?"  
The groupd moved out, crouching behind the bushes that dotted the yard, and keeping an eye out for guards. There was one on the roof which Vaughn took out and two roaming guards which Sydney and Teal'c took out. There were two at the front door, but they didn't plan on going in the front way. There was a "kitchen" enterance, which was guarded by a single guard. Cassi handed her gun and vest pack to Teal'c.   
"What are you doing?" Bristo mouthed. Cass just winked. As the other three watched, she went running toward the guard, screaming in French and pouring tears down her cheecks. Bristo noticed she even limped a little. The guard looked confused and flustered, and had no idea what was about to happen to him. She stopped just in front of him, started pulling his arm, and all while still babbling in French. As soon as he was in front of her, she did something to his neck and he crumpled to the ground. Vaughn shrugged and they followed Teal'c to the door. Cass took her gear back and they busted through. The guards standing around in the kitchen had no time to react before Sydney dropped them. They hustled through the open doorway and down chilly stone hallways. Each time a turn came up they'd crouch and whip around the corners like and angry wind. After a few minutes it became apparent that Sloan, or whoever was behind this, knew something was up. More armed men poured into the hall ways and the troupe once again had thier hands full. The combat was intense but brief, and when it was over Cassi stood over the only conscience man left.   
"Where is it?" she demanded savagely. Teal'c was the only one to see the softness in her eyes.  
"Where is it?" she yelled louder when he didn't answer immediately and shoved her gun closer to his throat. That wasn't what caused the searing pain in his head though.  
"Down the righ hall to the left! The room at the end!" he stammered in a heavy scandanavian accent. Cassi pinched his spinal cord and he lapsed into a coma like state.   
"C'mon!" she shouted and took the point, leading the group quickly down the hall, mowing down harried mercenaries as they went. Actually, Cassi knocked most of them out before the CIA agent's curtains of bullets could reach them. Within a minute they were knocking the door at the end of the hall open and pushing into the room. But was empty.   
Well, almost.  
"Maybourne!" Cass whispered in stunned amazement. The man was standing in the exact middle of the room, with his back to the door, so Sydney didn't know how the girl could tell who it was, but she was apparently correct for he turned and smiled.  
"You must be Jack's girl. Cassandra, right?"  
"Yeah." Cass responded without a friendly curl of her lips.  
"You know this man?" Sydeny asked, pointing her hand gun at his chest.   
"We've never met formally" the man answered, drawing a bit closer to Cass.   
"He betrayed my father and....our program. It had...damaging...... repercussions" the girl snarled.   
"Betray? Me?" he asked innocently, "Hello Teal'c." He turned his attention to the tall black man. The man's eyebrow had raised into his hat, but he didn't respond, just looked at Cassi.   
"What are you doing here, Maybourne?" Cassi demaned angrily, startling both CIA agents. Maybourne lost his smug smile, his face appearing tired now.   
"The same thing as you" he answered.  
"Why?" Cass barked.  
"It's what I do" he replied, "But I've found out something that you don't know yet" His smug look returned. Cassi heaved a sigh and closed her eyes.  
"What?" she asked as if she were speaking to an annoying younger brother.   
"Maybe I won't tell you" he said, cocking his head to the side. Cassi looked like she was barely checking her rage.  
"Maybourne, it's a good thing for you that my father has morals!"  
"And why is that?"  
"Because if he didn't, he never would have bred them into me, and then I'd be sifting through your mind in the most painful way I could conjecture right now!" Her eyes flashed angrily and Maybourne took a step back.   
"It wasn't an artifact, or Goa'uld technology" he said quickly. This startled Cassi out of her anger. She creased her brow.  
"Then what is it?" she asked.  
"It's Charlie" Maybourne answered genially.  
"Charlie?" Cassi repeated confusedly.  
"Not your brother" Maybourne corrected her, "The other Charlie. About, 5 years ago I think"  
"I believe I know of whom he is speaking." Teal'c said. It was Cassi's turn to lift an eyebrow.   
"The child that the Reetu sent to speak with O'Neill and warn of the rebels impending invasion" he reported.   
"Oh!" Cassi exclaimed, " THAT Charlie! The Tok'ra would never allow him to be taken!"  
"The Tok'ra can't control everything" Maybourne pointed out. The CIA agents had no idea what they were talking about.  
"Wait, the thing Sloan bought is a person?" Sydney asked. Pounding behind them and shouting brought their attention to the hallway outside.   
"Find them!" a woman's voice ordered. Cassi twisted back around.  
"Where is he now?" she damanded.  
"They took him" the shouts got closer, "Time to go!" Men came in behind them, guns trained, but Maybourne was gone. The group turned to look. Behind the men, a woman, with flowing hair and a confidant air, strode in behind them. 


	11. Capture

Branches  
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.   
  
To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?  
  
The guard pushed her in with the butt of his gun, making her stumble into Vaughn.   
"Be careful! Idiot!" He was slapped upside the head. He and the other burly man took up positions just inside the newly closed door. Sydeny straightened up beside Vaughn and breathed deeply. She glanced over at O'Neill and Murry (or was it Teal'c?) to make sure they hadn't been harmed. Cassi stood straight as a rod next to Murry, who never stood any other way.  
"What are you doing here, Sydney?" Sydney looked up into the woman's face, so like the one she saw in the mirror everyday. The blood in her chest started boiling, with anger, betrayal, pain, love, hope, grief and even a little self loathing. They churned and burned and crept up her throat to leave a bad taste in her mouth and her stomach feeling queasy. She raised her head obsitinately not willing to let this woman see the feelings she caused.  
"My job" she answered.  
"Sydney, this is beyond you. It's dangerous" She sounded so concerned, so worried. Sydney felt like spitting in her face.  
"Don't you dare pretend you care!" she hissed out between clenched teeth.  
"Sydney, no matter what you believe, I am your mother, I do care about what happens to you" Irena Derevco gazed tenderly at her daughter, willing her to believe, to, for once, cooperate so shw would not be hurt. But that was not something Sydney would ever be capable of, wilingly cooperating with her enemy. She was too much like her parents. Her eyes hardened and Irena knew that, unless she could find a weakness, she would get little from her daughter.  
"Where's the boy?" a new voice demanded in a steely voice. Sydeny snapped her head to stare hard at her attache.  
"Who are you?" Derevco advanced on the girl like a spider closing on it's prey. She had read her daughters response well. She had found her soft spot.  
"I am the Child borne of the Ring" she replied stolicly. Derevco was startled, Sydney could tell. SHe got very close to Cassi's face.  
"What do you know?" she asked quietly, dangerously, almost fatally. Sydney gulped her heart back down into her stomach. Her mother had a murderous look in her eye and it sent quivers through her body. But O'Neill did not look frightened, an admirable feat.   
"Where's the boy?" was all she answered. Derevco stepped back.  
"You....take Ms...." She waited but the girl did not respond. Derevco looked at Sydney. No one answered. Derevco lifted her hand and slapped Cassi right across the face. Murry moved, but Cassi stopped him. Still, no one answered.  
"Fine. Take Sydney's friend to the B room" the slightly engraged woman ordered. The guard had to struggled a bit with Murry until O'Neill shook her head at him. She followed quietly out the door behind the guards. Derevco took one last look at her daughter.  
"You shouldn't have come, Sydney" she said, and left.   
2 days later  
The "A" room  
  
Murry was sitting on the floor, legs crossed, meditating if he could be believed. Sydney had not seen her mother since the day they had been caught. She had no idea why they were still alive. They had been given some water in the morning and some hearty French bread and cheese later. Sydney and Vaughn had discussed trying to escape, but the room had one, firmly locked, door and no windows.  
"Maybourne left through some other means" Murry pointed out.  
"That's true" Vaughn said and they began searching in earnest for a hidden door, but after going over every inch of the walls, floor, and, with effort, the ceiling, they found nothing.   
"Were Cassi here, she would very easily be able to find the hidden passageway." Murry told them.  
"Yeah, well, she's not here" Sydney snapped bitterly, frustrated with her ineptness.   
"Indeed she is not" Murry responded, and Sydney caught the pain in his voice, the anger at himself for allowing the girl who, the CIA agents had found over the days, he was very close to, despite their lacking conversations. Sydney sighed, realizing she had been harsh.  
"Sorry" But he made no response.   
At night she went over their capture, and interrigation, odd as it was, over and over in her head. She kept imagining the different things she could have said, could have done. SHe held up and carefully considered each emotion the very thought of Irena Derevco (no longer mom) caused. She realized, everything was a twisted ball of twine, thousands of individual strings, but so confused she could not see where they started and where they ended. She curled into Vaughn, and hoped the woman wasn't falling so low as to torture a 17 year old girl.  
  
The B room  
  
Cass cradeled her weak body in an air cushion, an inch off the floor, for just a second, to relieve the force of gravity pushing on her battered and bruised muscles. But she couldn't keep it up, and her body fell to the floor. Abstractly, she could feel the pain course through her, leaving loud obnoxious messages in her brain, complaining about the treatment her muscles were receiving in their present condition.   
Derevco, a name Cass had pulled from Vaughn, had tried to batter informatioin out of her. Cass could withstand, but with no escape (the room being unescapable and her being ordered not to use telekinesis at any point for any reason) that was all she could do. She removed her mind to her past life, truly another universe, and when they had gone, used all her conscious energy to heal. But she had been given only water and bit of cheese since their capture, and she was becoming weak, her mental powers limited with no energy, no fuel to burn.  
Seeing that pain would not make her talk, Derevco switched to psychologival pain, hoping to play on the telepathic sensitivity aspect. She did not have a good understanding of the power though. Tapes, no matter how gory, how traumatizing, did not capture the mental agony that would have affected Cassi, and it was very easy for her to leave her eyes open, her face seeing, without watching.  
So, she sat in the corner, allowing her body to heal, when the door opened and a bright crack of real sunlight burned her unadjusted eyes. 


	12. Father's to the Rescue

Branches  
  
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.   
  
To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?  
  
AN: Sorry this has taken so long! Working on other stories now!  
  
Three men strode in through the door silently. One had the steely look of a seasoned soldier, one's face was that of the too quickly matured, and the thrid's was etched with the knowledge of how things were. Each had a purpose, shared with his fellows. The determination between them was enough to make one quiveer in his shoes. Each was dressed sharply, one in dress blues, the other two in combat fatigues. A combination to intimidate anyone. They marched in triangular formation, their shoes tapping the floor and echoeing through the room. They looked straight ahead, unflinching, unblinking. They would not be detered....  
  
"We haven't heard from her in five days....what makes you think they have?"  
  
"Well, the CIA would have sent their agents with mechanical equipment that Cass doesn't have"  
  
"Even the best equipment can not be used when one is incapacitated....or dead"   
  
"Gentlemen, " Agent Bristo said, closing the door behind him, catching only the last part of that conversation. They all turned, so Bristo held his hand out to the one in uniform.   
  
"I'm Agent Bristo"  
  
"Jack O'Neill" the other man replied, and Bristo got a forboding feeling. Would these men bring news? And what kind?  
  
"You're the attache's father" he replied, "She spoke of you. How can I help you?"  
  
"We have not had news from Cassandra in 5 days" one of the other men said, "We hoped you had"  
  
"Bristo, Greg and Dr. Daniel Jackson" O'Neill gestured first to the (very) young man who had spoken, and then to the man in glasses. Bristo wondered if the Air Force was in the habit of using high school students for all of their important missions. He shook both of their hands.   
  
"I'm sorry to say that we lost contact with the group six days ago" he told them, slightly abashed by the admission, "The last we heard, they had been seperated after parachuting from a plane over French soil. What information did your daughter give the next day?"  
  
"None, except that she was okay, as was....Murry?" Dr. Jackson answered.   
  
"If all contact has been lost, does that not mean they have been captured by your enemy?" Grege asked, concern creeping in his voice.  
  
"Not necessarily," Bristo answered.  
  
"Not necessarily?!" O'Neill repeated, allowing his tone to say exactly what he though, "What the hell do you THINK happened to them?"  
  
"Uh, I think what Jack means, " Dr. Jackson interrupted before the military man could go on, "What exactly is being done to get them back?" All three men seemed especially interested in that question. Bristo didn't think they'd like the answer.  
  
"At the moment" he took a breath, "Nothing"  
  
"Nothing?!" All three of them shouted back at him.  
  
"We have no idea where they are, or what the situation might be" Bristo defended himself quickly.  
  
"The situation, Agent Bristo," O'Neill emphasized menacingly, "Is that my SEVENTEEN year old daughter is out there, PROBABLY a prisoner of some freak, and you're not doing anything about it!"  
  
"My daughter is missing too, O'Neill" he said, not having a rank to use, "And I would not have sent her if I did not trust in her abilities and I'm sure you would not have sent your daughter unless she was well qualified."  
  
"A bullet doesn't care if you're qualified or not, Agent Bristo" Dr. Jackson pointed out quietly. Bristo sighed. He didn't need this now. He had intelligence teams all over the world keeping an ear out for any helpful information, but that was all he was authorized to do. What was he supposed to tell these men, who were obviously much more worried about their people than the mission. What kind of program did they work for where they could afford to risk an entire operation on the chance that their people were still alive? He wished he worked there.  
  
"As soon as we have some information to go on, we will do something" was all he could assure them. None of the visitors said anything, perhaps already planning their own rescue mission. Bristo hoped they succeded.   
  
"Sir?" Bristo turned. A woman had cracked the door open and poked her head in.  
  
"Marshall found something" The other three followed as Bristo marched to Marshall's desk.  
  
"Hello!" Marshall greeted the new men cordially.  
  
"This is one of our resident experts, Marshall" Bristo made a quick introduction, "This is O'Neill, Jackson and Greg"  
  
"Hello, hello" Marshall said shaking their hands. O'Neill took it and held it.  
  
"Whad ja find?" he asked.  
  
"Oh, oh, yeah! Well, I've been monitoring the channels that Sloan and Derevco usually use, you know just in case there was something we could use, and I found this message" He hit a button and a series of high pitched whines sounded. He rocked back on his heels, a smile on his face. Bristo nearly rolled his eyes.  
  
"Marshall!"   
  
"Oh, sorry. It's a deteriorated Morse code signal. Now, they threw in some noise but that was easy to screen out once you account for giga hertz and....."  
  
"Marshall!" O'Neill and Jackson exchanged looks, both thinking the same thing: Sam.  
  
"Sorry. It's an order for a private plane" the nervous little man said.  
  
"Do you know where it's going?" Bristo asked hurridly.  
  
"Greece" was the answer. Bristo patted Marshall on the back.  
  
"Good job" he said and started walking away.  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait!" O'Neill called, "What does that mean?" Bristo turned back around.  
  
"It means we have our information" he said and took off, barking orders. Daniel and Jack looked at each other for a moment.  
  
"I'll go call General Hammond" Daniel said, taking off.  
  
"I've got Bristo" Jack called to him. It wasn't easy to get his attention though.  
  
"We want to go" he informed the CIA agent when he had.  
  
"Look, I'm sure you feel you need to do something, but..."  
  
"Jack, besides the fact that my daughter and one of my best friends is out there, there's still that little matter of....whatever it was that was stolen from my department" Jack told the man, "And if Cass and...Murry...are out, you're going to need us" Bristo considered for a second.  
  
"What's your rank?"   
  
"Colonel" Jack answered. The CIA agent caught a man by the arm.  
  
"The Colonel and his group are coming with us, get them some gear"  
  
"Yes, sir!" the man replied, "Follow me sir!"  
  
"Thanks, Jack"  
  
"No problem....Jack" 


	13. Greece

Branches  
  
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.   
  
To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?  
  
AN: Sorry this has taken so long! Working on other stories now!  
  
Vaughn tried not to wince as the man pulled the plastic strips tight enough to cut into his circulation. Sydney was being strapped in the seat behind him, and Murry behind her. Derevco was over seeing their "securing". They each had their hands behind their chairs, a position which was now starting to cut off circulation from the shoulder to the wrist.   
  
"Just a precaution" Derevco said.  
  
"Where's the other girl?" Vaughn heard Sydney ask. Derevco walked out of his line of view, but he could feel her standing just behind him.  
  
"Are you worried about her Sydney?"   
  
"She's only seventeen years old" was Sydney's gritted reply. Derevco backed up, and Vaughn could see her face. She almost looked regretful.  
  
"She's alive" she answered, "She's on the plane"  
  
"Where are we going?" Vaughn asked. The contemptable woman looked down at him.   
  
"Greece" she told him.   
  
"It would be unwise of you to kill her" Vaughn heard Teal'c say quietly from two rows behind. Derevco once again exited his line of view.  
  
"And why is that, silent one?" he heard her ask.   
  
"You will suffer great pain if she dies" Vaughn couldn't see Derevco's face, but he couldn't imagine she was any less chilled than he was by that comment. Murry, or Teal'c as he prefered his last name, wasn't just talking about if and when any family the girl had came after her. It wasn't a threat derived from his own just anger over the girl's mistreatment. It was said as palin fact, one which sounded like he had had experience with. Pain. Great pain. And not just guilt, Teal'c was talking about physical pain. How could the death of a girl bring about what the unspoken words of Teal'c's comment promised? Vaughn didn't think he wanted to find out.  
  
Derevco made no response. She must've exited through the back, too, because he didn't see her again for the whole flight.  
  
"Syd?"  
  
"Yeah?" She sounded tired, and he knew emotionally she was dieing. How much had she suffered at the hands of her own mother? How much more would Irena force her to endure? Derevco had killed his father, but his contempt for her reached farther than that now. Now she was killing the woman he loved, slowly and painfully, torturing every tormenting emotion she could out of her own daughter.  
  
"How you holding up?" he asked.  
  
"I hate her" Sydney answered from behind him, "I can't believe even she could fall so low as to torture a 17 year old girl" She was practically spitting the words out.  
  
"Hey. We'll get out of this, and we'll save the girl" he assured her. At that moment, it was all he could promise.  
  
"Teal'c? You back there?"  
  
"I have not moved, Agent Vaughn" was his response.   
  
Nothing else was said for a long time, each lost in the swirl of their own thoughts and planes. Their bonds were removed momentarily, to get them off the plane and into a unremarkable black limo. They were all three put in the same vehicle, with 2 guards each. Derevco was taking no chances. The windows were dark so none of them could see where they were going. They drove for only half an hour before they reached their destination. The limo had pulled into a garage, so they still had no idea of where they were. The second limo pulled in behind them. Derevco got out first. Sydney, Vaughn and Teal'c all held back gasps, angry shouts and urges to break free when O'Neill emerged. Her hands were not bound, but that appeared to be the only mercy she had been afforded. She was dirty, her shirt had small holes in it, some unskilled person had pulled her hair back, revealing a dark bruise on her jaw. She looked like she had spent 4 months in a dirty cell in the depths of some Iraqi hell hole prison. It had been barely a week. She walked on her own, but it didn't appear to be easy.  
  
"Oh my god" Sydney breathed as they drew closer. They could now see she had finger bruises all over her arms and a small cut above her left eyebrow.   
  
"How you holdin' up?" Vaughn asked. Cass smiled, sort of .  
  
"Wish I would've stayed in Never Never land" she answered. Vaughn shook his head. Was she ever without a joke?  
  
"You have been harmed" The facade of stony resilance had fallen away. An anguished look revealed the pain in his heart. Cassi looked worried.  
  
"Tik, it's not your fault!" she said earnestly.  
  
"It was I who was to protect you!" he replied heatedly, "You are still a child" A tear fell from Cassi's eye. She layed her hand on the tall man's chest, the guards grabbing at her arms and succeding in pulling her away.   
  
"We're late" Derevco said and they started down a white, hospital like hallway. They didn't even try to speak, but they were all looking for the chance to escape. They took a few turns, and then Derevco reached the door she wanted. They were all pushed through.  
  
It was a hospital room. Five beds lined one wall and three chairs were against the other. A one way window/mirror was at the end of the room.   
  
There was a form in the last bed.  
  
"Charlie?" Cassi whispered and hurried to the bed. The boy, now a young man, sat up and looked around.   
  
"Who are you?" he asked, then saw Teal'c.   
  
"Jaffa. Teal'c." he said, "Is Jack coming?" He looked hopeful.  
  
"No" Cassi answered. The boy returned his attention to her.  
  
"I'm his daughter" she told him.  
  
"Charlie here had been most helpful" Derevco said, making her way over to him, "His genetic codes are very interesting" Sydney looked back at her mother.  
  
"That's what you wanted? That's what you paid for?" Derevco avoided Sydney's gaze.  
  
"That's what Sloan paid for. He's become very interested in genetic coding" she said quietly, "But thanks to your friend here, we won't be studying Charlie anymore" Cassi raised a hand to the cut above her eyebrow.  
  
"We got a small sample of her genetic code, but it was just enough to intrigue us" Derevco finnished, "So we'll be requiring a few more samples" She nodded at a guard who came and grabbed Cassi.  
  
"No! No!" she yelled and started struggling...a lot. She threw off the man and he went sprialing across the room, smacking into a wall and falling still on the floor.   
  
"Harwood! Kovach!" Derevco yelled and two more armored men came barging in. It took both of them to hold her. Teal'c pounced on them.  
  
"Darrow! Get in here!" Derevco called. Sydney and Vaughn tried to take advantage of the confusion to get out the door, but the man called Darrow busted in waving a dart gun. There was no time to shout a warning. The first dart his Teal'c in the shoulder blade. That didn't stop him. The second hit his right thigh, and then he fell.  
  
"No! No!" Cassi continued to yell, but she couldn't stop the two men from carrying her out the door. Sydney knelt by Teal'c and found his pulse. The boy called Charlie stood by his bed, ready to fight.  
  
"Is he alright?" Derevco asked as Sydney stood.  
  
"What are you going to do to her?" she demanded back.   
  
"I'll send a doctor" Derevco told them and shut the door behind her. 


	14. Waiting for Rescue

Branches  
  
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.   
  
To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?  
  
AN: Sorry this has taken so long! Working on other stories now!  
  
Vaughn tried again to look through the mirror but he still couldn't see anything beyond his own face.  
  
Teal'c occupied a chair, talking quietly to Charlie.  
  
"I did not know Jack had a child" the boy, probably not much older than Cassi herself, told him.  
  
"You have been away for a many years" Teal'c replied, "You remember Captain Carter?"  
  
"Yes"  
  
"She is now a major and has since become O'Neill's wife. She has recently given birth to two children, a boy and a girl"   
  
Vaughn was pacing in front of the mirror, Sydney was laying in a bed.  
  
"You speak Goa'uld?" The boy nodded. Teal'c began to tell him of Cassi's long story, using Earth terms when there was no supplement.  
  
Vaughn stopped pacing and tried to listen to them speak, but he could understand a word they said. It wasn't any language he could recognize and he spoke several languages fluently. He gave up and went to sit by Sydney.  
  
"What're they saying?" she asked quietly.   
  
"I have no idea. I was hoping you could tell me" he answered. Sydney rolled over onto her back and looked up at him.  
  
"I don't get it" she said, "My mother's not working with Sloan any more. Why does she want genetic codes?"  
  
"Maybe so she can have something he wants." Vaughn suggested.  
  
"Maybe" Sydney admitted slowly. Two seconds of silence insued, then the screaming began. Just one shriek, insulated by the walls. Teal'c's head snapped up and Charlie cut himself off in the middle of his sentence. The sound came from behind the mirror. They all remained silent, just looking at it. A few moments passed. Then there was another scream, this time much more dicernable as "No" Teal'c got up and tried to peer through the glass.   
  
"Can you see anything?" Sydney asked. He turned.  
  
"I cannot" he answered and returned to his conversation with Charlie. Vaughn and Sydney rested themselves. Every so often, a scream would reach their ears and they would all stop and listen. Each scream was a little louded, a little more defiant and a little more hysterical. And they were each dicernable as the word "no". It went on for hours, even after the lights had been turned off.  
  
In the middle of what they could only assume was night, the lights turned back on. They flickered, but didn't go off. They all sat up and waited. They heard nothing.  
  
"Teal'c?" Sydney said, her gaze locked on the mirror, instinctually knowing something important was about to happen.  
  
"Why does my mother want her genetic code so bad?"   
  
"I cannot give you that information" he responded. And then what they had been waiting for came, but not like before. This time, it was in their heads.  
  
NO! I won't let you! The thought was hysterical but there was an underlying control they could all feel. The anger was giving her strength at the moment.   
  
They gained all of these impressions in the few seconds before a man was hurled through the mirror, shooting glass into the room. The man lay still in the shards. The gorup stepped over him cautiously to look through the newly vacated hole.   
  
Cassi was strapped into a hospital bed, her arms out with her palms upturned. She'd been cleaned up a little, but still looked bad. However, she was no longer looking pale and weak.  
  
Men were hanging in the air, others were scattered across the floor as if they'd been hit by some great shock wave. Some were doctors, and the group noticed all of the monitors, some with blown out screens, that were attached by wires to Cassi's head. Some were beeping loudly, the little lines representing whatever they were recording jumping to the tops of the screens. Derevco was standing solidly by the door.  
  
All of this took barely a second to take in.   
  
"You should conserve your energy, Cassandra" Teal'c told her calmly. She raised her head and looked at him. The wildness faded from her eyes, replaced by a kind of exasperated weariness. The men floating in the air lowered softly to the ground, but she had already rendered them unconcious.   
  
"It's true then" Derevco said from her corner.   
  
"What's true?" Sydney demanded. Teal'c and Charlie were crawling through the mirror space and unstrapping Cassi. Sydney and Vaughn followed. Cassi slid off the bed on her own and stood on her own. She kind of smiled at the two CIA agents.  
  
I have some special talents Sydney and Vaughn's jaws dropped for they heard Cassi's voice clearly, but her mouth had not opened. And her voice was not all they had heard. She had colored her comment with many emotions; a slight humor and her understanding of their surprise, the rushed feeling that made her not want to explain just now, and, unintentionally, the weariness and dicouragement she felt.   
  
"She telepathic, Sydney, and telekinetic too" Derevco told her daughter, still staring at Cassi.   
  
"But I don't understand" Vaughn said, "If you had the power to escape, why didn't you?" Cassi sort of smiled.  
  
I had orders. she said, then turned to Charlie, "Are you alright, Charlie?" The boy's eyes flashe oddly, scaring those in the room who had never seen it before.  
  
"We are fine. May I suggest we leave?" he said in a very odd voice.  
  
"You are Relneck?" Cass asked.  
  
"I am" Charlie responded, but it was obvious the voice speaking was not the boy that had been there a moment ago.   
  
"Nice to meet you" Cass said, a little more strength in her voice.   
  
"And you, but shall we go?" At that moment, Derevco's amazement wore off and she bolted out the door. Sydney ran off after her.   
  
"C'mon!" Vaughn yelled and they all followed. The hallway that met them was empty. Vaughn stopped.  
  
"Where are they?" he asked. Cassi's gaze wondered off.  
  
"It's hard to track them" she told him, "They both have strong mental blocks" Then her gazed snapped back.  
  
"That way!" she announced, pointing to the left, down a hallway a few feet ahead. They hurried down the hall and up the ladder at the end that led to the roof. Flood lights illuminated the flat tarmack. A helicopter was raising into the clouds, Sydney was firing at it, but it was out of range.  
  
"Can you stop her?" Vaughn asked over its noise.  
  
"I can try!" Cass yelled back. Under normal circumstances it would have been possible, certainly, but she wasn't sure about now. Still, she closed her eyes and "felt" upwards. There was a hunk of metal and in the middle was a mind......a very closed mind, but there. She concentrated harder, felt the power from her own self, reached................  
  
Sydney watched, amazed as the helicopter began to decend again. She turned to stare openly, as Vaughn was doing, at the young girl who was doing it. Her jaw began to quiver, the blood faded from her face and the hand she gripped Teal'c with lost its strength, but still the helicopter lowered. It was nearly landed when her eyes flashed open. Her body seemed to give out, as she looked up.   
  
"Daddy?" she whispered and collapsed into Teal'c. ANd Sydney was forced to watch as once again her mother slipped out of her fingers and into the cloudy sky above. But when the helicopter was beyond view, the noise had not gone away. The group on the roof of the old castle turned to the west. Just above the horizon, two carrier helicopters were beating their way to their rescue.  
  
With nothing else to do, Teal'c picked Cassi up and the group moved back to allow plenty of room to let the helicopters land. When they did, two dozen armed men poured out.  
  
"O'Neill!" Teal'c yelled loudly, emerging from their safe spot. Three men, all in CIA combat gear, broke away and jogged over.   
  
"For cryin' out loud, Teal'c! What did she do?" the man cried, pulling his helmet off. Sydney was astonished at how much the girl resembled her father.  
  
"Sydney! Vaughn. " Bristo joined them, "Sloan?"   
  
"He's not here" Vaughn answered.  
  
"It was Derevco. She got away" Sydney told him, then pulled Charlie forward.  
  
"This is what Sloan bought. Derevco intercepted him" O'Neill looked past Teal'c's shoulder.  
  
"Charlie?" Charlie smiled.  
  
"Jack!" he said. The other two men removed their helmets too.  
  
"Charlie! How are you?" the one with the glasses said.  
  
"I am well, Dr. Jackson" Charlie replied.  
  
"Genetic coding?" Bristo asked of his daughter.   
  
"Yeah" Sydney answered, "They wanted O'Neills; too" The girl's father's head snapped up.  
  
"They were unsuccesful, O'Neill" Teal's assured him. A couple of men were coming with a gurney for her. The other two men seemed divided about where to go. The doctor ended up talking to Charlie while the other supervised Cassi's getting strapped into the gurney.  
  
"Uh, Sydney, Vaughn, this is Dr. Daniel Jackson, Colonel Jack O'Neill and Greg" Bristo made the introductions. The two nodded at all of them.  
  
"Anything we need to know before we move in?" Bristo asked.  
  
"Derevco's gone, Sloan and Sark don't appear to have anything to do with the whole thing. SOme unconcious guards" Vaughn answered.  
  
"Daddy?' It was verbal and mental. Jack jogged quickly to the gurney which was almost in the helicopter now, everyone else following too. The happy(er) father looked down.  
  
"Welcome back" he said. The girl smiled up tiredly.  
  
"You're late"   
  
"You were supposed to wait for me to come rescue you"  
  
"I got bored"   
  
"Bored?" Jackson and Greg exclaimed at the same time. Cass turned her head to the side.  
  
"Uncle Danny! I must admit to surprise" she said, but they could tell she was pleased.   
  
"It was believed I couldn't screw this one up" the man replied jokingly. The other man, much closer to Cassi's age, swept a carressing hand across her brow.  
  
"Greg?" she tried to turn her head to see, but her father stepped back so he could move into a better position. Only the SGC people realized the signifigance.  
  
"Are you alright?" the boy asked tenderly.  
  
"Yeah. I'm just a little hungry" Cass answere flippantly. Greg smiled obligingly and kissed her forehead.  
  
"We really should get going" Bristo told them. The rest of the CIA men had disappered into the castle.  
  
"Wait! Sydney, Vaughn?" Cassi called. The SGC people backed away as they approached. Cass was pale again, and she was starting to look as if she'd lost weight. Her hair was dirty and matted and cuts and bruises still littered her skin. Even so, with that smile, you could see the beauty she was.  
  
You can't tell she told them secretly Not even my own father She made sure to move her mouth so it appeared she was speaking in order to fool those who would recognize her using telepathy. She inserted the importance of the order into their minds. She was prepared to take more drastic measures, but she didn't want to. Sydney and Vaughn looked at each other, then nodded.  
  
"A pleasure working with you both" she added quietly.  
  
"So it was" Teal'c added, having drawn closer. The four realized they most likely would never see each other again.   
  
"Sydney, we really need to go" Bristo said from behind.  
  
"You're breaking up the band, Yoko" the colonel retorted. Bristo slid a gaze at him and didn't roll his eyes.  
  
"Cassi, Teal'c" Vaughn shook the man's hand and together the CIA agents turned and walked away.   
  
We'll be in touch! They both stopped and turned back slightly. Their eye's met Cassi's; she winked and they smiled. 


	15. A Bridge to Cross

Branches  
  
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.   
  
To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?  
  
AN: Sorry this has taken so long! Working on other stories now!  
  
The infirmary was quiet. Cassi was asleep in her bed. She hadn't even been home yet, Dr. Fraiser was afraid she'd immediately start work with Richard and Amanda, which of course she would. True, her sugar levels had been restored to normal levels, but Janet was a precautionist. Cassi seemed to be fine though and Greg knew that no one would stop her from going home tomorrow. She'd grilled her father all the way back to Colorado about exactly what more they each had done and continued to espress her amazement at how she could've missed such a thing. It bothered her, he knew. She was so used to being the pillar everybody leaned on, to having answers to almost any question, being in control. Greg could forsee problems and he and Makara thought about how best to handle them.   
  
Cass mumbled uninteligabley and rolled onto her side, facing him. He pulled the blanket over her should and brushed a hair from her cheek tenderly.  
  
"Makara" Greg let his symbiot take control. He didn't have to turn to know who it was. Relneck's voice may have changed, but it would always be recognizable to Makara. Cassi's eyes began to flutter and he hoped she was dreaming of him. The expression on her face did not boister that hope. He ran a finger across her cheek, happy to watch her sleep.  
  
"I see you've finally chosen a mate" Relneck came to stand right beside him. Makara looked up at him, into his new young face, then back at Cassi.  
  
"She was Gray'ag's choice" he answered truthfully.  
  
"I see" Relneck replied, and indeed he did. Most Tok'ra took only other Tok'ra mates due to the odd rhythm of their lives. IT was almost unheard of for one of them to take a mate without a symbiot. But Gray'ag was young. He fell in love with Cassi at first sight and so, then, did Makara. But if Makara and Gray'ag had not been one, Makara would not have these feelings. Greg often felt sorry, for he knew that though he and Cass would have their lives together, Makara would go on afterwards for many years, carrying this love, and taking no other mate.   
  
"It has been many years" Relneck continued.   
  
"It has. You are well, I hope" Makar replied.  
  
"The years have been good. This experience with Charlie has been interesting"  
  
"Cass said he was young when he came to you" Makara stll had not made eye contact with Relneck. He just watched Cassi.   
  
"He was. And ill. It took a lot of..work. It was not easy for him" A silence insued.  
  
"I was sorry to hear of Paka"  
  
"Why Makara?" Relneck ignored the condolence about his previous host.   
  
"It has been many years since last we spoke, old friend. We did not part well" Makara reminded the other Tok'ra.  
  
"Makara" Relneck pulled a chair over and sat down, "My old friend. Have you retreated to the Tau'ri just to escape me?"  
  
"No, of course not" Makara looked at his friend now, "You know my course has led me this way for many years now"  
  
"You always craved new things" Relneck shook his head, "You pioneered many of our ways, Makara. I supose this is yet another"  
  
"The Tau'ri are good people. They benefit well from our aide and knowledge." Makara confirmed. The ancient friends sat quietly for a few moments, reflecting on their long lives and how they had come to this point. Cassi mumbled more and both Tok'ra looked down at her. Her face told them her dreams were not pleasant. Makara brushed the pad of his thumb up and down her cheek, trying to bring her some peace, to no avail.  
  
"She has nightmares often?" Relneck asked as Makara continued his ministrations. His friend nodded.  
  
"Nearly every night. She doesn't speak of them"  
  
"She's a strong woman" Relneck said.  
  
"A special woman" a female Tok'ra voice said. Both Makara and Relneck turned.  
  
"Garanta" Makara said. Batai was behind her.  
  
"Saravu" They both drew closer.  
  
"They told us you were both here" Saravu said,  
  
"How is Cassandra?" Garanta asked, studying the girl's face. A hot shower and food had done her wonders, but the cut above her left brow had required stitches and the bruises would take their own time in healing.  
  
"She's fine" Makara replied, "She'll go home tomorrow" There was no question about it in his voice.  
  
"We have things to discuss, Makara" Saravu said authoritivly. He was, after all, still their leader. And Greg and Makara had known this was coming. Garanta nodded at the still asleep Cassi.   
  
"Will we wake her?" Makara shook his head.   
  
"I'm glad Relneck is here, Makara" Saravu told him, "A friend will be welcome for you"  
  
"Saravu, I know what you would say" Makara said before the Tok'ra leader could continue, "I know what I have undertaken"  
  
"But does she?" Garanta asked, her eyes flashed and Lor'ta appeared, "It is difficult, especially for women, to know they will have no children. But we accept it when we merge. But Cassi, Cassi may want children. With you..she cannot" Her eyes flashed and again Garanta was back.  
  
"Also consider this, my friend" Relneck added, "Her abilities would be passed to her children. This could be a great step for the Tau'ri. And a great aid in the Fight someday"  
  
"I know all of this" his eyes closed and his head dropped, "Feelings cannot be helped" Greg answered. The other three Tok'ra exchanged looks. Their heads all dropped and Lor, Batai and Charlie exchanged looks too.  
  
Just then, Cass made a waking up noise. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes.   
  
"Mmmm...do I have an audience?" she asked sleepily.   
  
"You're just that beautiful" Greg told her, "How do you feel?" Cassi stretched her neck, waking herself up more.  
  
"Hungry" she answered, "You guys want anything?"  
  
"The mess hall is closed, Cassi" Lor said.  
  
"Oh, I'm sure Fraise has some kind of healthy what not stowed away here somewhere" Cass assured her as she sat up. Greg propped a pillow behind her back.  
  
"We'll go find her!" Lor offered quickly, pulling Batai to his feet. The blonde man looked startled.  
  
"Oh, it's okay! I'll just call her" Cass offered.  
  
"No, no! You should rest. No problem" Lor said, a little too quickly, but Cassi didn't say anything. She smiled at Greg, then switched her attention to Charlie.  
  
"Hey, Charlie. How you doin'?" she asked.  
  
"I'm fine. They didn't hurt me like you" he answered. Cassi grimaced.  
  
"Yeah. So when do you go home?" she asked amiably. She smiled at the young man. She pulled his story from her father's mind.   
  
"Tomorrow. Dr. Fraiser wants to keep an eye on me" he said with a smile, knowing that was just an excuse to get a good look at how Relneck had healed him.   
  
"That's great!" Cass exclaimed, "You can come home with me and visit with Manny and Chards!" She was very excited about the prospect, like a younger sister excited that her brother had come home. Charlie looked at Greg.  
  
"Richard and Amanda" his friend told him, "She has nicknames for EVERYone"   
  
"I'd like that" Charlie told her, then stood up, "Well, I'll let you rest"  
  
"I'll see ya later!" she called as he disappeared out the door, then turned to the man she knew she would someday be with forever.  
  
"Well, what was that all about?" she asked him. He had gathered her hand in his and his head dropped over it now, but Greg was still with her.  
  
"Which part? Lor and Batai, or Relneck?" Cassi furrowed her brow. She could smell a serious conversation. She hated those.  
  
"Start with Charlie" she told him. He looked up at her.  
  
"Makara and Relneck are old friends" he said simply.  
  
"By that I assume you mean ancient" she smirked. He smiled slightly, she wsa being Cass again.  
  
"Since the time of their first merging" he replied. Her eyebrows raised and she whistled.  
  
"Unfortunately, they did not part well the last time" he added. She raised a hand to his face and Greg could feel the gentle carress of her mind trying to reach his, the only one she couldn't.   
  
"It's all right. I think.....I think it's fine now" he todl her, but he didn't want to look right at her. She may not be able to reach his mind with hers, but those blue-brown eyes of hers could reach anywhere.   
  
Cassi didn't want to push it too fast. She ran her fingers across his high cheek bones, traced around his ear, and then laced them in his silky black hair. She imagined what their children might look like, surprising herself, but indulging. The girls would have her caramel hair and his purple-black eyes. The boys would have their father's hair and strong jaw, but her muddy blue eyes. Selfishly she wished they would all look like her parents, but wouldn't deny Greg passing on his own genes.  
  
But at the thought of genes her beautiful bubble of illusion popped.  
  
"Lor and Batai?" she asked almost hoarsely, suddenly realizing what they had most likely been discussing. Greg sighed heavily.   
  
"They...they wanted me to make sure you understand....." he couldn't finish his sentence.   
  
"We can't have children" she did it for him. He nodded sadly. Any child they created would have all of the knowledge and memories of Makara. That's why Daniel's "son" was with Oma.   
  
"But, maybe, with the passed on telepathic powers...." she tried but Greg just shook his head. Cass shrugged There were other ways to have kids. But she would deal with that when they got there. She was still only seventeen, after all.   
  
"Hey." she brought his head up, "We'll figure soemthing out. Later" Greg smiled.  
  
"I love you" he said and then kissed her to prove it. 


	16. Back Home Again

Branches  
  
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.   
  
To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?  
  
AN: Sorry this has taken so long! Working on other stories now!  
  
"Manny! Chards!" Cassi cried when she entered the house. She strode quickly to the den where the kids most ofter were during the days and evenings the family was even home. Amanda was on her stomach, rocking back and forth, trying to learn to crawl. Richard was asleep in his play pen, but woke up the second his older sister entered the room. Cass swooped down on her sister and lifted her into the air.  
  
"Oh, I missed you! How are you?" she asked with a goofy grin. Amanda gurgled happily. A warm feeling, simple and unconcerned, waved over everyone gathered in the room. Cassi's eyebrows rose and her eyes widened in surprise.   
  
"Well, someone's telepathic" she looked at Greg and Teal'c who were on the stairs watching.  
  
"Nah, really?" her father said, coming in behind them. Cass lowered Amanda to a safer position against her chest.   
  
"Whatever gave you that idea?" Jack cocked an eyebrow at his daughter(s). Cass just smiled wryly. Not to be outdone, however, Richard immediately rose into the air. Cass tilted her head to watch his acension.   
  
"Show off" she said to him, "Come back down here" The baby lowered a foot, but then went back up.  
  
"Hey!" his sister cried indignantly, "I said come down!" This time Richard lowered enough for Daniel, who was just coming in with Janet and Cassie, to grab him.  
  
"Whoa!" he cried as he suddenly found the boy in front of his face. Cass handed Amanda to Janet.  
  
"Oh, thank god!" Sam said as she, trailing Charlie, joined them too, "Finally someone to control him!" But she was smiling as she said it. She crossed the room and embraced her oldest child.  
  
"Welcome home, sweety" she said, "I'm sorry I didn't come in to see you last night" She brushed a hand across Cass's stitched up eyebrow.  
  
No prob, Mom Cass assured her. She then turned to introduce Charlie to her younger siblings, and they all spent the rest of the day playing and cooig at the babies. Cass and Cassie disappeared for a while, up to Cass's room.   
  
"I don't think boring old Earth will seem quite so boring now" Cassie said, putting one of her own shirts on a hanger in Cass's closet. The girls weren't really the same size at all, but they thought it was fun to swap clothing.   
  
"Well, that's good at least" Cass answered absently, looking for a paper she owed Daniel. Behind her, Cassie continued straightening the room up. Suddenly Cass stopped and turned around, not sure she'd read her friend's feelings correctly.  
  
"What!?" she cried quietly, not wanting to draw attention from below. Cassie shrugged and wouldn't look at her.  
  
"He's just nice, that's all" she said.  
  
Please, please tell me you are not serious!  
  
"I'm not really" the younger girl replied, "But you're with Greg"  
  
It's not the same Cass told her and went back to looking for the paper.  
  
"Are you going to marry him?" Cassie inquired.   
  
"Someday"   
  
"When?"  
  
"When I feel like it" Cass found the paper and they went back downstairs. Janet and Charlie had set dinner out. (Sam's cooking was getting better....slowly)  
  
"Amanda's asleep" Greg announced in a whisper as he was the one holding her. Everybody got very quiet. Charlie was feeding Richard a bottle (of which there was a stock kept in the fridge) so even he was being quiet. Cass had told them she wanted to wait until the infant was asleep to do her probing. She was afraid Amanda would resist her and she would end up hurting the child.  
  
"Just hold her" the girl instructed Greg. Everyone watched, Jack openly, as she put a hand lightly on her sister's fuzzy head, and closed her eyes. She was quiet for a while. Greg watched her face carefully, looking for any sign of what she found. After a moment, she opened her eyes and removed her hand. She shook her head slightly, like she was shaking something loose. Without a words she moved to Richard (who had been handed off to his father) and repeated the process. By now everyone was too interested to pretend nothing had just happened and they all gathered around.   
  
"Well?" Janet asked, "What did you find?"  
  
"Nothing ominous. Amanda's telepathic, Richard's telekinetic, niether of them show any signs of having both abilities. Strength wise, neither are quite as strong as I am, but we won't really know what they can do until they're older" she told them.   
  
"What does that mean?" Daniel asked. Cass shrugged.   
  
"Nothing really" she said ans went to find her lunch. Everyone else moved off and fell into more natural activities. Cass and Cassie had a bubble gun blowing contest at the dinner table, Daniel and Jack were argueing about some mission they went on long ago, Greg was telling Charlie all about the twins birth with help from Teal'c and careful not to wake Amanda, who was still asleep in his arms, and the mothers were talking and drinking tea in the living room with Richard. Cass suddenly felt like she was at some kind of family reunion or Sunday dinner from some sitcom in the fifties. She looked around at Teal'c, Greg and Charlie. Well, maybe not the fifties.   
  
Jack sat up and rubbed his eyes. Amanda was fussing in her cradle and he knew why.   
  
"Shhh, it's okay, baby" he told her quietly, hoping not to wake Sam or Richard. They infant opened her eyes a little and looked at him. He reached down and rubbed her tumnmy. Apparently reassured she closed her eyes again and went back to sleep. Jack rested back on the edge of the bed, rubbed his hands through his hair. Cassi's dreams had been getting better, or at least he'd been having less of them. They were always the same things. They started out happy, then turned bad. The first time she shot a man dead (she was only 12) the fear the minds of other produced when she was four, and lastly, every time, the shoot out scene in front of the gate. He'd seen himself die so many times he remembered it like he'd been there himself.   
  
Tonight had been different. This time, it started with the shoot out, then to a dark room and finally a bed she couldn't get out of. The dream had been full of the usual anger, grief and sadness, but under that was something new. Despair.   
  
Jack felt like growling. His daughter had been a prisoner of war. Not that it was her first time, but the first on Earth. The first time she had ever been witness to what humanity could do to humanity. Always before it had been the damn Goa'uld inflicting the pain, something alien that she could feel all of humanity was united against. Oh, but now, now she knew more of what humans really were. No longer was the enemy alien. The one thing she had strove her ENTIRE life to protect and save had turned around and bit her in the ass.   
  
Boy did he need a beer.   
  
There was only one left in the back of the fridge. How was he supposed to get into a proper brooding mood on one beer? He hadn't brooded since........well since Cass had shown up. Ever since her, and everything she had brought along with her, he'd been too busy to brood over Charlie or that life he'd lost. But now he needed to brood again, over his own POW experience and now Cassi's, and how she, of all people, could have gotten caught by anyone. Of course, she was just human, after all.   
  
Jack flopped on the couch, a beer in one hand, his secret bottle of Jack Daniel's in another. Jack Daniel's......the stuff gave him a headache. Reminded him of another Jack/Daniel combination. He took a swig and flicked the TV on. The damn news was on. Perfect. Just right for his brooding mood. ther were talking about the "war" in Iraq. Damn desert. Fricking sand. Damn sun. Hell-hole of a place, all in all. Jack took another swig, one from the whiskey, one from the beer, as more images passed over the screen. The food was terrible too. The hospitality really sucked. Jack thought living on Chulak would be better. He watched the reporters interview young soldiers, all unaware of what was really going on, any one of which could be listed as a POW at any moment. Damn young kids too. Older than Cass, but nowhere near her age. Yeah, there was that darkness, that familiar feeling he'd wallowed in for almost ten years. 4 months. 4 damn months of his life that had disappeared into the sinking sands of that hot, sandy, stinkining hell-hole.   
  
Jack was in the proper mood by the time Cassi came down the stairs.  
  
You didn't wake me upshe said surly, plopping down next to him. She didn't drink, but she didn't have to.   
  
"You woke Amanda up" he replied, swigging the rest of his beer down.   
  
You did. I put blocks on the both of them while I was in their headsshe told him, "You must've made noise"   
  
"What do you mean you put blocks on 'em?" her father demanded.  
  
I know what I'm doing you know she said, picking up on his inuendo, "I can take them off when they're old enough to handle it" Jack didn't say anything. Perhaps it would be better for them. They sat in silence, watching the news. Niether of them knew what they were talking about. No one at the SGC paid much attention to what went on in international politics. They had enough trouble taking care of interplanetary politics and underground, secret organizations like the dang NID. But they knew war, yes they did. Jack looked at his daughter. There was a strange expression on her face.   
  
"Hey" He nudged her with his elbow, but he didn't know what else to say. Being a POW was something only you could deal with.   
  
"How can people do that to other people?" she just shook her head. Jack recognized the look now. Anger at the disillusions she'd had her whole life.   
  
Why the hell.......damn it! Why the hell do we do it? She stood up and paced in front of the TV We risk our lives at least once a week, for what? To protect THIS? We get no recognition, nothing in return! When we die out there, no one knows why or how, or for what. THey just go on with their petty lives, trying to get more money, more power, that means shit. Are we stupid? Do we have visions of granduer that blind us to the reality that nothing we do matters here?  
  
"For cryin' out loud!" Jack's somewhat drunken stupor vanished. He may brood but he never lost heart. He sat the Jack Daniel's bottle on the coffee table and grabbed her in both arms.  
  
"You know why we do it, Cass!" he was a milimeter from her face, "Yeah, so the world's shit. Yeah, so nobody appreciates anything we do except ourselves. But it's our world, our shit." She closed her eyes and sagged into him. He put a hand on her head, hoping he could lift her dispair.   
  
"Cassi, baby. Humans can be more inhumane than anyone else, but at least we know it. At least we try not to be and we fight those who would rule the universe throug pain and fear" He hoped his little speech had done the trick. He wasn't good at them. He left speeches to Daniel and Sam.   
  
You did good, Daddy Cassi pushed back and smiled wanely I just got...frustrated.   
  
"Yeah. It happens" he replied, putting a kiss on her forehead. She was a little surprised. He hadn't done that since she was little. She must've really freaked him.   
  
"I'm going to bed" she told him and he watched as she disappeared, then returned to the couch and reached for his bottle. It disappeared. Jack frowned and tried to change the channel on the TV, but it just turned off.   
  
Good night, Dad! Jack's lips twitched in a smile. Cass was back to herself, alright. Seeing he had no choice, he stood up and went to bed. 


	17. Back to Phone Calls

Branches  
  
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.   
  
To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?  
  
AN: Sorry this has taken so long! Working on other stories now!  
  
Brriiinnngg!  
  
Brriiinn....  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hello."  
  
"Hi!"  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hello!"  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"You can put the phones down. They aren't on anyway" the young girl's voice said. Sydney and Vaughn looked at their phones. Neither were on.  
  
I just didn't want to freak you out she continued I do that you know. A laugh acompanied that remark.   
  
"Uh, it's nice to hear from you" Vaughn said, aloud, unsure how to procede.   
  
It's okay. It's easier if you talk aloud. I just wanted to let you know I'm all better Another laugh imposed itself My "personal" doctor fixed me all up!  
  
"Cassi, I'm....I'm sorry about what happened" Sydney said.  
  
No big deal. I've been a POW before. But both CIA agents heard that this experience had been different.  
  
"I was the one who was supposed to be lookig out for you and it was my mother that hurt you" Sydney objected.  
  
I think I was supposed to be looking out for me O'Neill replied pevishly The mother thing well........I suppose life is complicated at times.   
  
"How's uh...Murry? Teal'c?" Vaughn asked to change the subject.  
  
Teal'c. He's fine. He's right here. We're babysitting my little brother and sister. He says hi! There was more humor in her "voice" He didn't get in too much trouble from my Dad! My Mom was the one who harped!  
  
"We never met your mom" Vaughn said.  
  
That's cause she didn't come to "rescue" us! An image of a blonde haired, blue eyed beauty popped into their heads. Both of them were astonished. The girl looked just like her mother, as they recalled, but they also remembered thinking she looked exactly like her Dad.   
  
Yeah, I get that. Depends on who I'm standing closest too. My Mom just had twins. Chards looks like Dad, but we aren't sure who Manny looks like. There was mild confusion in their minds.  
  
Amanda and Richard. Cassi clarified.   
  
"Who were the other two men that came with your father?" Sydney asked. She had been curious about them ever since they left France.   
  
Oh, that was my Uncle Danny. He's a doctor in anthropology and linguistics, but he knows a lot about other stuff too. He was my personal tutor for a while. Guess that's why I'm such a dweeb. Dad calls him Spacemonkey. She was rambling a little, happy to have someone to tell about her family. Vaughn and Sydney got the impression she didn't get the chance often. The other guy, the younger one, was Greg. He's my.....boyfriend, I guess. But the tone meant "husband". Sydney wondered if they were just waiting for her to turn 18.   
  
Oh, we'll wait! I still have a life to live! Cass said, confusing Vaughn but relieving Sydney.   
  
I have to go now. But it was nice talking to you again! Vaughn kind of took that to mean "I hope you have a nice life!"  
  
"Yeah" he replied, "It was nice. Take care of yourself" A smile and a.....good...feeling filled his head and he suddenly felt her absence. He looked at Sydney, sitting next to him on the bed. She had a faraway look on her face. Cassi must still be talking to her....  
  
Sydney..........  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
I thought I should tell you.....you know, I thought my mother was died a few months after I was born. I dind't meet her until I was sixteen. Sydney wasn't sure where this was going, but she listened because she could "hear" it's importance.  
  
I....I looked. In your mother's head. To fine a way to escape, a reason I was there.   
  
"I thought you said you knew. You said you were the Child Borne of the Ring"  
  
That was just something I pulled from her mind. To catch her attention. But thanks for reminding me, that bears looking into. Sydney, mostly what I found in your mother's mind was....you. Things she regretted doing, reasons she did them.....your whole relationship. She really never meant to hurt you. She really does love you. She's just a fly, trapped in a web. Sydney didn't know how to respond. One thing she'd learned from Cassi was that the girl NEVER lied, unless it was part of a cover to protect the innocent. But this was not something she would lie about.   
  
I have to go. Prolonged exposure could hurt you. But I thought you should know. I hope it helps you! And with that, there was a goodbye feeling and then Sydney's mind was once again a private place.   
  
"Syd? You okay?" Vaughn asked. Sydney thought about it for a minute, then smiled.  
  
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine"   
  
Brrriiinnng!  
  
Brrriiinnng!  
  
Brrriii.......  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Daniel? Is Cass there?"  
  
"Yeah. Cass! The phone is for you!"  
  
The cordless phone drifted across the room to the girl's waiting hand.   
  
"Are you still at it?!" her amazed and slightly annoyed friend blasted.  
  
"I know it's here somewhere!" Cass defended herself, "Uncle Danny has every major history book there is! It's got to be mentioned somewhere!"  
  
"For cryin' out loud!" Cassie was really agrivated, "You've been working on it for weeks! You come home, go to Daniel's, go to sleep, go to work and do it all over again! You haven't taken a break since Charlie left!" she complained. Cass harumphed and shut her book. Cassie was right, darn it. She'd even missed Richard crawling for the first time. (His sister was still trying)  
  
"Look. I have a weekend off. You're actually on Earth for a change, Greg's probably sitting by himself at home. WHy don't we go do something?" Cassi suggested hopefully.   
  
"Okay" Cass agreed grudgingly, "Just not bowling. Greg stinks at it"  
  
"Will you pick me up?"   
  
"Yeah, as soon as I go get Greg" Cass answered unhappily.   
  
"Yay! See you soon!" her friend replied and hung up. Cass set the phone down and poured a glass of orange juice for herself from the living room.   
  
"Jeeze!" she heard Daniel exclaim as he narrowly missed walking right into the hovering cup.   
  
"Will you please tell me when you're going to do that?" Cassi laughed and downed the juice.  
  
"I'm going out with Cassi and Greg if my parents call!" she told him as she collected her things and headed for the door.   
  
"Why in the world would they call here looking for you?" Daniel asked sarcastically. Cass laughed again and closed the door behind her.   
  
AN: That's it! Hope you enjoyed! 


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